The 24th match of this year’s IPL rolls into Pune with last season’s champions Sunrisers Hyderabad the guests of Rising Pune Supergiant.
RPS have struggled so far and sit second from bottom ahead of taking on a Sunrisers outfit that have regained their form after a couple of losses that looked to derail the immense momentum they have taken forward from last season’s victorious campaign.
Pune are in dire need of a win and will be hoping the likes of MS Dhoni, Ben Stokes and Steve Smith, in particular, can help them turn the tide.
As for the visitors, they’ll be after much of the same in pursuit of a win that could take them back to the top of the table.
Ahead of the match, we have the latest team news, start time and date, as well as how you can watch all the action from the UAE.
DATE, TIME, VENUE INFO
Date: April 22, 2017 (Saturday)
Time: 14:30 GST, 16:00 local time (IST), 10:30 GMT
Venue: Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune
WHERE TO WATCH, LIVE STREAMING INFO
TV: UAE – OSN Sports Cricket HD, India – Sony Six, Sony Six HD (English), Sony Max, Sony Max HD 3 (Hindi), UK – Sky Sports
Online streaming: hotstar.com, Hotstar app (in India only)
LIVE: Sport360.com
TEAM NEWS, SQUADS, PREDICTED XIs
Boys spared no part of his face!😂 That's how you celebrate!🎂 Happy Birthday @Ankkii05 !💜#RangWahiJungNayi #RPSG pic.twitter.com/z1VbHJNi4E
— RisingPuneSupergiant (@RPSupergiants) April 20, 2017
RPS SQUAD: MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Faf du Plessis, Ashok Dinda, Ankush Bains, Rajat Bhatia, Ankit Sharma, Ishwar Pandey, Adam Zampa, Jaskaran Singh, Baba Aparajith, Deepak Chahar, Usman Khawaja, Mayank Agarwal, Ben Stokes, Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Kumar, Dan Christian, Milind Tandon, Rahul Tripathi, Manoj Tiwary, Lockie Ferguson, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir
Victory last time out over RCB came largely thanks to a stellar bowling performance as their five bowler attack – including Stokes and Christian as all-rounders – operated in superb unison.
Their batting remains an issue, however, with no-one in the top order so far taking up the mantle to produce a big innings, of match winning substance.
Du Plessis has played just one game so far and will feel he deserves a go but considering how well Christian and Stokes bowled last time it would mean captain Smith would have to make way.
PREDICTED RPS XI: Rahane, Tripathi, Smith (c), Tiwary, Stokes, Dhoni (wk), Christian, Thakur, Unadkat, R Chahar, Tahir
Pune, we're here.#OrangeArmy #RiseOfOrange pic.twitter.com/bVz53GX4qa
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) April 21, 2017
SRH SQUAD: David Warner (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Moises Henriques, Mustafizur Rahman, Naman Ojha (wk), Deepak Hooda, Ricky Bhui, Kane Williamson, Siddarth Kaul, Bipul Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Yuvraj Singh, Ben Cutting, Barinder Sran, Abhimanyu Mithun, Vijay Shankar, Tanmay Agarwal, Mohammad Nabi, Ekalavya Dwivedi, Rashid Khan, Pravin Tambe, Chris Jordan, Ben Laughlin, Mohammed Siraj
Sunrisers have picked up again with two wins out of two and, once again, last time out showed the incredible depth and versatility this squad boasts.
Williamson came in to make a superb 89 from 51 balls in his first game back in the side and only madness would prevent the New Zealander from retaining his place.
Nabi has impressed when he’s played, while Mustafizur and Jordan remain on the sidelines, such is the strength of the Sunrisers.
PREDICTED SRH XI: Warner (c), Dhawan, Williamson, Henriques, Yuvraj, Ojha (wk), Hooda, Rashid, Bhuvneshwar, Siraj, Kaul
FORM
(Last five matches – with latest match first)
RPS: W L L L W W
SRH: W W L L W
MATCH PREDICTION
This is a tricky one to call but Sunrisers look the better side, so away win.
