Rising Pune Supergiant and Kings XI Punjab will lock horns against each other at the MCA Stadium, Pune with two different objectives in their sights.
While the danger of getting ousted at the last step remains aloof on the head of both the teams, they would like to focus on the brighter side – the qualification scenario – and keep the morale high in their respective camps.
Overview
The IPL league stage has come to a point where each team holds it their fate in their own hands, literally. It’s all or nothing (or hope that the luck favour). The outcomes of the also Saturday’s fixtures will have a great impact on both the teams. To start with, they wouldn’t want Sunrisers to win, as it hurts both directly making their contest more testing.
RPS did a huge harm to its chances of qualifying directly to the qualifiers after losing their recent game against Delhi Daredevils. They now stand on a thin rope facing a must-win situation in order to get a guaranteed a spot in the top two. Their inferior run rate may also harm their chances.
Punjab has done everything right so far with four wins in the last five games, showing a great understanding of the criticalness of the situation, as opposed to the likes of SRH, KKR and their upcoming opponents.
However, they are in need of the final push to break into the top four.
Tracking the strengths:
Punjab can term batting as their strength. The manner in which Guptill, Maxwell, Marsh and Saha struck the ball in against Mumbai Indians, it was unreal to watch. The team would also be happy to face a less dangerous bowling attack in the crunch game.
With no Imran Tahir and overdependence on Ben Stokes, the bowling attack doesn’t look as strong as Mumbai Indians’ attack. Therefore, another solid show from these men may be around the corner.
Rahul Tripathi, Steven Smith, Manoj Tiwary, Ben Stokes and MS Dhoni – The core of the batting line-up will be the strength for the hosts. Pune, just like Punjab, will rely on their batsmen to get going and post a good total on the board. If the above-mentioned names perform to their best, Kings XI Punjab’s bowling might be exposed to a high-pressure situation.
Match Prediction:
Punjab will be brimming with confidence while Pune will be a tad nervous after the failure in their last game. Also, Punjab can be sure of their batting to a great extent. It has been the driving force.
T. Natarajan in place of Ishant Sharma should strengthen their bowling as well. Pune, on the other hand, has been dealing with inconsistency. They have shown sluggishness in both the departments on occasion which may cost heavily.
Keeping these factors in mind, overall, Punjab is anticipated to start as the favourites to win.