Venue: ACA-VDCA Stadium, Visakhapatnam | Date & Time: 17 May at 18:30 hr (GST)
BIG PICTURE
After the thorough pasting Pune has received in their last few outings, bouncing back so quickly will be difficult. The last match epitomised their entire season in the span of 24 overs. The batsmen never got going, Dhoni struggled to find the form of yesteryear and the bowling had a distinct lack of sting. They were the first team out of the tournament and all they have to play for now is pride.
Delhi Daredevils received a humbling of their own last time out as well. Krunal Pandya’s aggressive potential materialised in this match and resulted in a blitzkrieg which completely destroyed Delhi’s well-intentioned strategy of fielding three spinners. Apart from Quinton de Kock – incorrectly given out for the second match running – none of the batsmen got going. The Daredevils have to win two of their three remaining matches to get to 16 points which, barring a statistical anomaly, should be enough to see them through.
Delhi should be wary that a loss to Pune will lead them to a situation where they’ll need to win back-to-back games against two teams that can do nothing wrong at the moment – Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The Daredevils will want to take a hard look at their composition after they were exposed against the Mumbai Indians. They invested heavily in Indian talents like Sanju Samson and Karun Nair, both of whom lend ample stability in the middle-order. What they lack with their current composition, however, is the firepower that can make or break high-scoring matches. They will consider dropping JP Duminy and Imran Tahir, who recorded an ignominious record of his own against the Mumbai Indians.
WATCH OUT FOR
Dhoni will be the player to watch out for
Mahendra Singh Dhoni: Once known to be one of the most explosive batsmen in the world, Dhoni hasn’t turned up for quite some time now. Even against KKR in the last match, Dhoni ambled to a 22-ball innings of just 8. He will want to silence his critics with the kind of performances that have made him such an iconic figure.
KEY BATTLES
Adam Zampa vs Nair and Samson: Adam Zampa’s four overs to the Daredevil’s middle-order duo of Nair and Samson will be a key phase of the game. Both batters failed to come good in the big chase against Mumbai and will be looking to rectify that right away. Zampa, on the other hand, will want to continue to establish himself as one of the leading spinners in the IPL.
Zaheer Khan vs Pune openers: Pune’s strongest suit is most certainly their opening partnership, which hasn’t quite lived up to its potential yet. Ajinkya Rahane has been steady as ever in anchoring the partnership and Khawaja has timed the ball well so far. Zaheer Khan was brilliant against Mumbai, troubling Martin Guptil will his away swingers and nagging angles. How the openers negotiate Zaheer’s two overs at the top will set the tone for Pune’s innings.
EXPECTED XIs
Pune are unlikely to make any changes.
Ajinkya Rahane, Usman Khawaja, Saurabh Tiwary, George Bailey, M.S. Dhoni (wk), Thisara Parera, Irfan Pathan, Adam Zampa, Ravi Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, M Ashwin
Daredevils, on the other hand, are likely to make various changes in their line-up, to accommodate some explosive hitting into their line-up. Tahir and Duminy are unlikely to feature.
Quinton de Kock (wk), Rishabh Pant, Karun Nair, Sanju Samson, Sam Billings, Carlos Brathwaite, Chris Morris, Pawan Negi / S. Nadeem / Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan, Mohammad Shami
STRAIGHT FROM TWITTER
We are all set to take on @DelhiDaredevils tomorrow in our 2nd last game of #IPL2016. We will be gunning for victory pic.twitter.com/MueBUmXowp
— Pune Supergiants (@RPSupergiants) May 16, 2016
