After scripting their first victory in the VIVO IPL 2016, the Rising Pune Supergiants will go head to head against an upbeat Suresh Raina led Gujarat Lions for match 6 of VIVO IPL 2016 at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot at 8 PM (IST) later on today. Rising Pune Supergiants made short work of a shaky Mumbai squad to gallop to their first win, with both the bowling and batting departments showing off their class. After the bowling line-up led by Ishant Sharma restricted Mumbai to just 121 off their allotted 20 overs, the openers made the chase look ridiculously easy.
Ajinkya Rahane, who was in sublime touch notched up his first fifty of the tournament, while South African import Faf Du Plessis played the second fiddle to perfection en route to his 33 ball 34. Kevin Pietersen walked in at the back of his fantastic BBL performance and applied the finishing touches with two towering sixes, to seal the lop-sided match in Pune’s favour and get them going on the points table.
Gujarat on the other hand had to battle it out against a well-led Kings XI Punjab outfit. After calling the coin right in his first outing as captain, Raina opted to put the Kings XI into bat first. Manan Vohra and Murali Vijay go them off to a great start, stitching a 78 run partnership before Jadeja had Vohra caught behind.
After the initial breakthrough, Bravo was called in to deliver the goods and he did not disappoint. With two stunning slower balls, he managed to castle Punjab’s two main batsmen Maxwell and Miller while also managing to rid the well set duo of Saha and Stoinis off successive deliveries in the last over off the innings, finishing with stunning figures of 4-22 in his allotted 4 overs.
Set a stiff target of 162, the Lions got off to a disastrous start, losing McCullum for nought to a clever piece of wicketkeeping in the first over itself. However, Finch went about his merry ways, forging impressive partnerships with Raina( 20 off 9) and Dinesh Karthik (41* off 27) to ensure that Gujarat crossed the finish line with ease.
However, this match will see ex-CSK mates plot against each other, while ex-RR players will see familiar faces in the opposition. The biggest battle will however be the MS Dhoni v Suresh Raina battle. Here we try to see how the squads might go about their selection for the match today.
Rising Pune Supergiants :
While skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has often expressed his displeasure in shuffling squads unless an absolute necessity added to the rich vein of form with Pune, it seems in all likelihood that Pune will go in with an unchanged squad.
Batting Department:
After laying the perfect platform in the opening encounter against Mumbai, Rahane and Faf are in all probability set to open the innings yet again. En-route to claiming his 11th MOM award, Rahane showcased yet again how effect he can be in T20 cricket with a clever mix of aggression and class. Kevin Pietersen has been in sensational form since the BBL and played a little cameo against Mumbai. With the likes of Steven Smith, Mitchell Marsh and skipper Dhoni in the mix, it seems like a well set line-up which the managerial staff would not want to tinker with.
Bowling Department :
The bowling duties were handled well by the pace trio of Ishant Sharma, Mitch Marsh and RP Singh thanks to which Pune was off to a flier against Mumbai, claiming 5 top-order wickets inside 8 overs giving away just 40 runs to create a severe dent in Mumbai line-up initially.
After the initial outburst, Rajat Bhatia and Murugan Ashwin combined beautifully well to stem the run-flow. In their combined eight overs, they gave away just 26 runs and picked up two wickets. With leading spinner R Ashwin bowling just the one over, it showed how much the other bowlers stepped up and will be an encouraging sign for Dhoni and Pune.
Gujarat Lions :
Batting Department :
While Finch came out very strong against the KXIP, GL will be hoping that Brendon McCullum gets into his groove and goes out all guns blazing against an in-form Pune bowling line-up. If the opening combination provides a strong platform early on, Gujarat can bank upon the likes of Raina and Karthik to provide stability in the middle-order while foreign all-rounders Bravo, Jadeja and Faulkner can provide the necessary fireworks at the fag-end of the innings.
Bowling Department :
Dwayne Bravo will be once again the key for Gujarat Lions with his subtle variations against a strong RPSG line-up while Praveen Kumar will yet again be looking to torment batsman with his movement off the seam early on. Ravindra Jadeja will have to take the spinning responsibility.
It will be interesting to see if Dale Steyn gets a game considering the opposition’s batting prowess, or Faulkner retains his place. Steyn’s addition to the squad might just be a value addition with Faulkner going for runs in the last game, although Steyn has not struck form in the recent past. With Pradeep Sangwan also getting battered last game, in-form batsman Eklavya Dwivedi might have a look-in to strengthen the batting, while Dale Steyn could be drafted in for Faulkner for the important match.
Teams (Predicted XI) :
Ajinkya Rahane, Faf Du Plessis, Kevin Pietersen, Steven Smith, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain & wk), Mitchell Marsh, Rajat Bhatia, Ravichandran Ashwin, Murugan Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Rudra Pratap Singh.
Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, Suresh Raina (Captain), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Eklavya Dwivedi, Ishan Kishan, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Dale Steyn, Praveen Kumar, Sarabjit Ladda,
