It’s the final day of matches in the league stage of the 2017 Indian Premier League [IPL] and we have ourselves a match which will decide the final playoff spot in this year’s competition.
Rising Pune Supergiant host Kings XI Punjab in this all-important match with the winner qualifying for the playoffs while the losing team will be knocked out. In other words, this is essentially a virtual quarterfinal.
If Pune win this match, not only will they make it to the final four, but they will also get to play in Qualifier 1 which will give them two chances of qualifying for the final.
In case of the match ending with no result due to rain, Pune will go through as the third place team and will have to play the Eliminator against Kolkata Knight Riders.
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: May 14, 2017 (Sunday)
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
Congratulations to Skippy #Smithy for completing 405 runs last night in this #IPL edition. @stevesmith49 💪 #RangWahiJungNayi pic.twitter.com/izoqJgsY1i
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, Washington Sundar.
Despite the loss against Delhi Daredevils, Pune are unlikely to make any changes to the team unless there are any fitness concerns.
Ajinkya Rahane has had a poor season, averaging below 20 in IPL 2017, and Pune need the experienced Indian batsman to stand up more than ever now.
PREDICTED RPS XI: Rahane, Tripathi, Smith (c), Tiwary, Stokes, Dhoni (wk), Christian, Sundar, Thakur, Unadkat, Zampa.
KXIP SQUAD: David Miller, Manan Vohra, Axar Patel, Murali Vijay, Glenn Maxwell, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Anureet Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Shaun Marsh, Wriddhiman Saha, Nikhil Naik, Mohit Sharma, Marcus Stoinis, KC Cariappa, Armaan Jaffer, Pardeep Sahu, Swapnil Singh, Hashim Amla, Eoin Morgan, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Darren Sammy, T Natarajan, Varun Aaron, Rahul Tewatia, Rinku Singh, Ishant Sharma.
Having lost the services of Hashim Amla due to his international commitments, Punjab decided to open the batting with Wriddhiman Saha and the move worked like a dream against Mumbai Indians.
The bowling was a bit of a worry for the Glenn Maxwell-led side in their last match and that could see Matt Henry drop to the bench as the Kiwi pacer was very expensive. Time for a game for Darren Sammy, perhaps?
Ishant Sharma hasn’t picked up a single wicket in this season’s IPL, so his spot could be taken by either Varun Aaron or T Natarajan.
PREDICTED KXIP XI: Guptill, Saha (wk), Marsh, Vohra, Maxwell (c), Axar, Sammy, Tewatia, Mohit, Sandeep, Aaron.
We lead the Giants 2-1 in our head-to-head record. Let's make it 3-1 tomorrow boys! #LivePunjabiPlayPunjabi pic.twitter.com/uSHmBK4ffA
FORM
(Last five matches – with latest match first)
RPS: L W W W W
KXIP: W W L W W
MATCH PREDICTION
With home advantage on their side, we’re predicting a Pune win.
