Who is going to win in this contest of IPL newbies? Gujarat Lions have been one of the most impressive teams in the IPL 2016. Rising Pune Supergiants, on the other hand, have been a huge disappointment. So how is going to play out on Friday night?
Gujarat Lions have the players with the right skills for T20 cricket, such as Dwayne Bravo. Bravo is a genuine all-rounder. He may not be in the best of form as a batsman, but his bowling has been superlative, especially in the death overs.
Also impressive is Praveen Kumar – a unique player who is of no more than military medium pace, but is pretty effective no matter which team he plays for.
But the Lions will be without Aaron Finch, their main run getter, who is injured. Dwayne Smith, who has been brought as a replacement will replace Finch.
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So even as the Brendon McCullum – Aaron Finch partnership gets broken, the Dwayne Smith – Brendon McCullum partnership which was the most successful one last season for a different team, Chennai Super Kings, is back in action.
What about Rising Pune Supergiants? Well, days after MS Dhoni’s side lost Kevin Pietersen because of a calf injure, they face the prospect of having to do without their most consistent batsman, Faf du Plessis, who has broken a finger. The team is now desperately looking to sign Usman Khawaja, who is by a fair distance the best Australian batsman right now.
Dhoni is not used to losing, at least not in the IPL, but with his new team, he better get used to it fast, because he appears to be losing all the time in this tournament. There is something wrong with the Supergiants side. Nobody seems to get a finger on what it is, but they re missing something.
Perhaps it’s their bowling – it simply lacks any penetration whatsoever. Ishant Sharma isn’t a particularly good bower in T20 cricket, which is why he doesn’t play in the limited overs format for India.
The three all-rounders, Thisara Perera, Mitchell Marsh and Rajat Bhatia are average bowlers. Ashok Dinda has raw pace but lacks consistency. R Ashwin has been woefully out of form and has completed his full bowling quota in only 3 of the six games.
The Lions also have things to worry about. Their middle order is completely untested. The likes of Bravo, James Faulkner and Ravindra Jadeja have hardly spent any time in the middle at all.
As for the team news, Supergiants may play the 24-year-old Australian batsman Peter Handscomb in Finch’s position. Handscomb is a talented T20 batsman and was the third highest run getter in the Sheffield Shield in Australia last season.
The Teams
Rising Pune Supergiants: 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Peter Handscomb, 3 Steven Smith, 4 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 5 Mitchell Marsh, 6 Saurabh Tiwary, 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Rajat Bhatia, 9 R Ashwin, 10 M Ashwin, 11 Ashok Dinda
Gujarat Lions: 1 Brendon McCullum, 2 Dwayne Smith, 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 James Faulkner, 7 Ishan Kishan, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Dhawal Kulkarni, 11 Pravin Tambe
Match Conditions
The Pune pitch has the reputation of being a friendly one for spinners and we expect that to continue tomorrow as well. Tomorrow’s match will be the penultimate game to be played in Maharashtra before the IPL is forced out of the state because of the drought.
Watch Rising Pune Supergiants take on the Gujarat Lions at 8:00 PM Friday LIVE on Sony Six!
