Published: Apr 24, 2016, 12:09 AM (IST)
Edited: Apr 24, 2016, 11:32 AM (IST)
Match No.20 of the ninth edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 will see Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). RPS will take on KKR at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium situated at Pune. RPS are coming in from a close defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), who won the match by mere 13 runs, while KKR had an good outing against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) who were comfortably beaten by a margin of six wickets. RPS are now currently on seventh position with only 2 points to their name. With such a big game up ahead Vishal Mehra, takes a keen look on the likely XI that MS Dhoni would decide to field against KKR. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Rising Pune Supergiants vs Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL 2016, Match 20 at Pune
Top Order: Ajinkya Rahane has more or less cemented his place at top of the order, with his consistent performance. He has so far scored 156 runs in 4 matches, which include 2 half-century in the process. Accompanying him will be Faf du Plessis, who has been in terrific form off-late collecting as many as 172 runs from 4 matches with two fifties to his name. Coming in at No.3 will be Australian skipper Steven Smith, who has clearly struggled with his T20 format batting. He needs to gear up his game if RPS have any chances of doing well in the tournament, with Kevin Pietersen being ruled out from IPL due to calf injury.
Middle Order: Coming in at No.4 skipper himself, MS Dhoni, who is more likely to take up the responsibility to give his team a good platform to accelerate in the death overs or mastermind a chase. Given the fact that Pietersen will not feature in the playing XI, Mitchell Marsh will surely get a look in. Marsh has been in good form with the bat and ball for Australia since the start of 2016. Coming just below him will be Thisara Perera, coming in a little early in the previous outing, sadly was not at his best ultimately losing the cause. Perera made 34 runs in 13 balls, and also scalped 3 wickets. Rajat Bhatia will come in next to only add much needed stability to their under-performing lower middle order. Bhatia came good with the bat making 11-ball 21 against RCB.
Lower Middle Order: RPS bowling has come under much scrutiny, with bowlers like Ravichandran Ashwin and Ishant Sharma playing much less than their potential. Ishant has been taken apart for runs so far in the tournament, conceding 47 runs in his four overs. Ankit Sharma too has been decent with the ball for them, but Dhoni might just prefer Ashoke Dinda over him because of the know how of the Pune stadium. The only good performer with the ball for RPS has been Murugan Ashwin , who has been one of best economical bowler for RPS. With support from Perera, Marsh and Bhatia RPS bowling looks solid but a tad under-performing.
Rising Pune Supergiants likely XI: Ajinkya Rahane, Faf du Plessis, Steven Smith, MS Dhoni, Mitchell Marsh, Thisara Perera, Rajat Bhatia, Ravichandran Ashwin, Murugan Ashwin, Ishant Sharma and Ashoke Dinda.
(Vishal Mehra is a reporter at CricketCountry, who enjoys his weekly dose of anime, and plays cricket once a white moon. His twitter handle is @vishal_oxyjinn.)
