After suffering loss in their last matches, both Rising Pune Supergiant and Delhi Daredevils will be hoping to get back to winning ways when they lock horns in Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Monday (April 11).

Steve Smith’s men began their season in style with a comprehensive win over Mumbai Indians but failed to replicate that performance against Kings XI Punjab and suffered a six-wicket defeat. On the other hand, Delhi Daredevils would be kicking themselves after losing their season against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Zaheer Khan’s men managed to restrict Bangalore to 157 but could score only 142 for 9 in reply.

Overview:

We will first take a look at the hosts Rising Pune Supergiant. In Ajinkya Rahane and Mayank Agarwal, they have two openers who have the potential to give the team a solid start. Rahane has been in good touch and has already scored a fifty in the first match while Agarwal is yet to prove his worth this year. However, he is a proven performer and can do really well if he gets going. At number three, they have Steve Smith, arguably the best batsman in the world right now. He will be followed by Ben Stokes, MS Dhoni and Manoj Tiwary. So the batting unit looks quite settled but the real concern will be the bowling department. Their pace spearhead Ashok Dinda is looking completely off-colour while Ben Stokes is providing little respite. Dan Christian, who missed the first game but played in the second, also went for runs. The only bowler who is looking in good form right now is their leg-spinner, Imran Tahir.

Talking about the visitors, Delhi Daredevils will have to ponder a lot after their performance in the defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore in their opening game. Chasing a paltry 157 on a good surface, the Delhi batsmen made a mess of it and eventually fell short by 15 runs.

View on think tank:

RPS: The team management would be desperate to sort out the issues with their pace department. In the first two matches, the pacers have accounted for only a couple of wickets which has allowed the opposition team to gain momentum right from the start. Death bowling has not looked impressive either.

DD: The way the Delhi team, full of youngsters crumbled under pressure against Royal Challengers Bangalore, the team management will be keen to include some experienced names in the playing eleven. New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson can be their answer.

Tracking the strength:

RPS: The Pune-based outfit have one of the best top orders in the tournament. The likes of Steve Smith and Ajinkya Rahane are in good touch and they also have the luxury of mulling on including Faf du Plessis in the team. In MS Dhoni and Ben Stokes, they have two batsmen who can thrash any bowling attack.

Imran Tahir is also looking at his devastating best. In the last two matches, he has helped the team to bounce back after making a poor start with the ball and the Protea star will be keen to replicate his performance against his former team.

DD: The fact that Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Shami remianed on the bench against Royal Challengers Bangalore speaks a lot about the bowling potential of Delhi. The bowlers did extremely well against Bangalore and apart from Kedar Jadhav who hit some big shots during the middle overs, they succeeded in keeping the batsmen under check.

Possibilities in the lineup:

RPS: They had included both Adam Zampa and Imran Tahir during their opening game against Mumbai Indians at home and the way Delhi batsmen struggled against the Bangalore spinners, RPS will be tempted to play both the spinners.

Mayank Agarwal’s failures can prompt the team management to include Faf du Plessis in the playing especially after the way the batsmen struggled against Kings XI Punjab. And if du Plessis gets the nod, then Zampa would find it tough to make it to the playing eleven.

Jaydev Unadkat can also replace out of form Ashok Dinda in the playing eleven

DD: The Delhi think tank will be seriously mulling on including the experienced Corey Anderson in the playing eleven after their inexperienced batting line-up committed hara-kiri while chasing 157 against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The bowling department was looking well-settled and apart from Amit Mishra, who conceded 32 in his 2 overs, other bowlers are set to start. Jayant Yadav can get the nod ahead of Amit Mishra.

Positive notes:

Both the teams had little positives to find after losing their previous matches but Imran Tahir’s form would please the Pune think tank while Delhi will be relying on their strong bowling lineup to keep the Pune batsmen under check.

Head-to-Head:

Rising Pune Supergiant have an upper hand in this fixture as they have won both the matches against the Delhi-based franchise.

Prediction:

Rising Pune Supergiant will walk away with the two points
The team batting first will score between 175-190.
Team batting second will win win the match

Playing XI Of Both Teams:

RPS:

MS Dhoni (wk), Manoj Tiwary, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Dinda, Rajat Bhatia, Faf du Plessis, Steven Smith (c), Daniel Christian, Ben Stokes, Imran Tahir, Rahul Chahar

DD:

Zaheer Khan (c), Amit Mishra, Aditya Tare, Shahbaz Nadeem, Sam Billings, Pat Cummins, Corey Anderson, Karun Nair, Sanju Samson, Chris Morris, Rishabh Pant (wk)