After registering six wins in their first nine games, Kings XI Punjab's season took a nosedive, and they lost their remaining five matches to finish in seventh place with 12 points.
With 39 sixes in four innings in the recent ODI series against England, Gayle showed that his powers haven't waned, while Rahul too looked close to his best during the T20I series against Australia. Punjab will once again bank on them for providing big starts.
In the bowling department, they will rely on the spinners in the main, with captain R Ashwin at the forefront. He will be backed by mystery spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Varun Chakravarthy, who can bowl everything from carrom balls to googlies, making it hard for batsmen to line them up.
Punjab's best combination of overseas players would be Gayle, David Miller, Andrew Tye and Mujeeb.
While Gayle wasn't part of the playing XI for the first two games last season, given his recent form, he should be one of the first names on the team sheet this time around. Miller will assume the role of the finisher; Tye and Mujeeb will shoulder seam and swing bowling responsibilities.
Nicholas Pooran, Curran, Henriques and Hardus Viljoen are the other overseas players in the squad but it's difficult to see any of them replacing Gayle, Miller, Tye or Mujeeb at the start.