It’s been an awful journey for the Rising Pune Supergiant so far and ofcourse for the new Captain Steven Smith. A side studded with Big Names like Dhoni, Smith and Rahane is yet to make an impact. Standing at the bottom of the table with 2 wins and 3 losses Supergiant will be looking to rejuvenate themselves from hereon. They have got the 5 days break between their last and next match. Pune pitch supports spinner little bit and both the teams will be looking to exploit the chances as they have quality spinners in the side.
Supergiant won their last game against Royal Challengers and that too at Challengers home by the collective bowling efforts. Batting first, Supergiant’s openers Rahane and Tripathi gave the smashing start and added 63 runs on the score board with the run rate of 8+ but sooner RCB put their best bowler Badree and he succeeded in picking up one of the best batsman against Spin, Rahane. He completely deceived by the ball and got clean bowled after scoring 30 runs off 25 balls. Rahul Tripathi showed what he can do with the bat against Lions and similar was expected from him against RCB as well. Going on the line he was hitting the ball with much more conviction but it was Negi who could not let him continue what his job was to do. Tripathi scored quick 31 runs off 23 balls – A job well done. This time Dhoni stood up with Smith and added 58 runs for the 3rd wicket partnership but very unusual to their batting style, they slowed down the run rate further. Pune lost both of them in back to back two balls. 1st one to go was Dhoni scoring 28 off 25 and he was clean bowled by Shane Watson. 2nd one to go was Steven Smith in the same way as Dhoni. He was picked up by Aravind scoring only 27 runs off 24 balls. After loosing two quick wickets by Pune, the further damage was done by Milne and Aravind. In next two over Pune lost 3 more wickets. Aravind picked up Dan Christian and further Milne who was playing his first match clean bowled Ben Stokes and in next ball sent Shardul Thakur as well to the pavilion. It was Manoj Tiwary quick fire 27 runs off 11 balls which enable Supergiant to post 161 runs to the score board. In response, RCB got a poor start and it was Shardul Thakur who gave the early breakthrough and sent the Mandeep Singh on a duck. It was Kohli and ABD on the crease the two most dangerous batsman in the world but it was not their day. Kohli who was looking in nice touch could not continue his inning further and scored 28 runs off 19 balls. He was picked up by Ben Stokes. Very much on the expected lines, Smith called Imran Tahir and to RCB’s disappointment he bid a good bye to his fellow AB de Villers. ABD scored 29 runs. Jadhav who has really getting the praise for his batting but not this time, Unadkat who was playing his 1st match clean bowled Jadhav and in the next over it was Watson who got clean bowled on Shardul Thakur’s bowling. RCB by then lost their 5 wickets on 101 and it looked like their game is over. Binny and Negi put some fast runs but it was not over for Pune. Thakur and Stokes came to finish the unfinished task and picked up Negi and Binny in back to back two overs. Shardul Thakur and Ben Stoke stole the show by taking 3 wickets each followed by Unadkat 2 wickets and Tahir 1 wicket.
Defending Champion Sunrisers Hyderabad are performing very much on expected lines. With strong batting and bowling line-up they are at the 3 position with 4 wins and 2 losses. They have an aggressive Captain who is known for leading from the front whether it is batting or fielding. And in this season they are one of the top contender to carry IPL 10 cup. Last match Sunrisers played against Daredevils and as expected it was more than entertaining with two strong bowling sides. Sunrisers won the toss and very much unexpected to the trend chose to bat first. They were playing against one of the strongest bowling line up this season and got the taste very early. In form David Warner who is in prime form lost his wicket scoring only 4 runs and it was Chris Morris who sent him as early as it can be but Sunrisers played their game very well and this time they called Kane Williamson and with Shikhar Dhawan it was no looking back for them. They added 136 runs partnership for 2 wicket and put Sunrisers in strong position. Morris picked 2nd wicket and sent Williamson scoring 89 runs in just 51 balls. After this, Dhawan played some shot but it was Morris again who picked his wicket. Dhawan scored 70 off 50 balls. Next ball Morris struck again and it was dangerous Yuvraj Singh to go. Unbeaten Henriques and Hooda posted the score of 191 runs. In response, Delhi Daredevils lost early wicket of Billings and it was newcomer Sunrisers introduced who picked the wicket – M. Siraj. Nair and Samson put up 71 runs for the 2nd wicket partnership. Next one to go was Nair and he showed some commitment this and but could not stay on the wicket and got run out scoring 33 runs. Rishbah Pant promoted up the order but wasted the opportunity and got out on a duck. He was picked up by Yuvraj Singh. M. Siraj came in for the 2nd spell and soon he came, he pick up Samson and gave the required breakthrough to his team. Iyer and Mathews showed some resistance and added 70 runs for the 5th wicket partnership. But slow start by the Mathews and a call to send him before them Chris Morris cost Daredevils their match. Iyer completed his 50 and Mathews got out scoring 31 runs and taken by S. Kaul. Sunrisers Hyderabad won the match by 15 runs. M. Siraj was the pick of the bowler from Hyderabad. He picked 2 wickets for 39 runs in 4 overs followed by S. Kaul and Yuvraj 1 wicket each.
Probable 11:
Pune: M. Dhoni (wk), A. Rahane, R. Tripathi, S. Smith, B. Stokes, M. Tiwary, D. Christian, S. Thakur, J. Unadkat, R. Chahar, I. Tahir.
Hyderabad: N. Ojha (wk), D. Warner, S. Dhawan, K. Williamson, Y. Singh. M. Henriques, D. Hooda, B. Kumar, R. Khan, M. Siraj, S. Kaul
Quick Facts:
Dan Christain has not been useful and can be replaced by Zampa as Pune pitch supports spinner and this can be the only move by Pune.
If they bring in Zampa then it is likely Rahul Chahar can be replaced by Deepak Chahar as Pune unlikely to go with 3 spinners and Deepak Chahar is fast bowler.
For Hyderabad as Williamson comes in and showed great performance, their top order seem to be perfect fit and Henriques could be axed because after first two matches he is yet to shine. If this happens then M. Nabi could be the one to replace him.
There is no update of Ashish Nehra. He is the important bowler and for Hyderabad it is important he should play as it is a long tournament and Nehra is experienced bowler and very useful too. If he is fit then S. Kaul could be the one to make way for him.
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