Series: Indian Premier League, 2016 Venue: Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune Date & Time: Apr 22, 08:00 PM LOCAL
Rising Pune Supergiants captain M.S. Dhoni with Steve Smith during a practice session.
With one win and two defeats, both the teams have identical two points each but the Pune outfit is a place above RCB in the standings.
Facing a similar crisis after two successive defeats,
both Rising Pune Supergiants and Royal Challengers Bangalore would look
to bring their campaign back on track when they face each other in an
Indian Premier League match, in Pune on Friday.
After
impressive starts, both Pune and RCB have faltered in their last two
games and come tomorrow the two sides would be looking to outwit each
other in a bid to return to winning ways.
With one
win and two defeats, both the teams have identical two points each but
the Pune outfit is a place above RCB in the standings at fifth position
by virtue of a better net run rate.
Debutants Pune,
led by the talismanic Mahendra Singh Dhoni, defeated defending champions
Mumbai Indians in their tournament opener before losing to another new
outfit Gujarat Lions and Kings XI Punjab.
Star-studded
RCB, on the other hand, beat Sunrisers Hyderabad in their opening match
before their campaign went haywire following losses to Delhi Daredevils
and Mumbai Indians last night.
For Pune captain Dhoni, the biggest task would be getting his team composition right.
Dhoni is a leader who persists with a set of players but he is yet to strike that balance in Pune.
Dhoni has to ponder over both the batting and bowling departments of his team.
Pune’s
batting unit consists of some big names in Ajinkya Rahane, Kevin
Pietersen, Steven Smith and Dhoni, but barring Faf du Plessis no other
batsman has managed to set the stage on fire so far in the tournament.
Dhoni tried Sri Lankan Thissara Perera in the last match in place of Mitchell Marsh but with no result.
But more than the batting, it is the indifferent performance of his bowlers which would be worrying Dhoni.
Pace
spearhead Ishant Sharma has been lacking consistency while Dhoni’s
one-time trusted lieutenant RP Singh made way for Irfan Pathan in the
previous game without much result.
On the pace front,
Dhoni hardly has any options left in his hands as Indian fast bowler
Ishwar Pandey has also not been an IPL regular although he can generate a
bit of bounce and swing.
Off-spinner Ravichandran
Ashwin has not been at his best in the shortest format in the last few
months but his statemate Murugan Ashwin has done decently in his debut
season.
The bowler who has been a stand-out for Pune
is Ranji veteran Rajat Bhatia, who has kept batsmen in check with his
gentle medium pace and occasional cutters.
Just like
Pune, RCB’s strength lies in batting unit. With the likes of explosive
Chris Gayle, captain Virat Kohli, A B de Villiers, Shane Watson and
fearless Mumbai-based youngster Sarfaraz Khan in their ranks, the
Bangalore outfit can tear apart any bowling unit on their given day.
However,
RCB is expected to miss Gayle for the second match on the trot as the
Jamaican has flown back home following the birth of his first child.
But RCB’s troubles lie mainly in their bowling attack in which Watson has been the lone stand—out performer.
Despite
posting a competitive 170 for seven against Mumbai Indians yesterday,
RCB bowlers’ failed to defend the score as the title holders cruised
home with two overs to spare.
Varun Aaron and Kane
Richardson, who came in for Adam Milne and David Wiese yesterday, went
for runs and the young Harshal Patel too has not been getting the
breakthroughs for RCB.
The RCB spin attack comprising Yuzvendra Chahal, Parvez Rasool and Iqbal Abdullah also lacks experience.
Teams (from):
Rising Pune Supergiants:
MS Dhoni (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Kevin Pietersen, Faf du Plessis, Steve
Smith, Mitchell Marsh, Jaskaran Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ankit
Sharma, Albie Morkel, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Ishwar Pandey,
Thisara Perera, Saurabh Tiwary, RP Singh, Rajat Bhatia, Ankush Bains,
Baba Aparajith, Murugan Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, Deepak Chahar, Scott
Boland, Peter Handscomb, Adam Zampa.
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
Virat Kohli (C), Shane Watson, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Stuart
Binny, Iqbal Abdulla, Sreenath Aravind, Kedar Jadhav, Vikramjeet Malik,
Kane Richardson, Varun Aaron, Mandeep Singh, Abu Nechim, Adam Milne,
Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel, Travis Head, David Wiese, Sachin Baby,
Lokesh Rahul, Parvez Rasool, Vikas Tokas, Sarfaraz Khan, Praveen Dubey,
Akshay Karnewar.
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