A new look Kings XI Punjab under Ravichandran Ashwin will take on Delhi Daredevils in their opening encounter of IPL-2018, in Mohali, on Sunday, as both sides look to begin the T20 tournament on a winning note.

This season, KXIP look a balanced side with Ashwin set for his maiden stint as captain of an IPL team. It has players of the calibre of Yuvraj Singh, Chris Gayle, David Miller, K L Rahul and Aaron Finch not to speak of the likes of Manoj Tiwary, Mohit Sharma, Axar Patel and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman.

Barring a few who have been retained, most of the domestic and some foreign players have joined the team this season.

Punjab mentor Virender Sehwag rated the new-look team as the best of all seasons.

KXIP's best finish in the decade-old tournament has been to reach the finals in 2014.

Inconsistency in their performance has been a cause of concern for the Punjab outfit and the team will have to overcome this aspect if they want to finish on top this time.

Delhi Daredevils share similarities with Punjab team, as they too have struggled in the last few seasons.

DD's head coach Ricky Ponting has exuded optimism and said that he doesn't care about his team's dismal record over 10 editions of IPL as he believes that the 'fresh group' of players have it in them to win a maiden title this season.

Delhi reached semi-finals twice in their first three seasons.

The Gautam Gambhir-led side has an ideal mix of youth and experience. Gambhir has helped his previous outfit Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to clinch titles on two occasions

Delhi have retained wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant and opener Shreyas Iyer.