IPL 2017 Preview | Match 9: Rising Pune Supergiant vs Delhi Daredevils

04/10/2017

Batting-heavy Rising Pune Supergiant will look to return to winning ways when they take on Delhi Daredevils at home today. Delhi, possessing a strong bowling attack, are hoping to register their first win after going down to Royal Challengers Bangalore in their opening fixture.

Pune began the season on a winning note by beating Mumbai Indians by seven wickets in the Maharashtra derby. Skipper Steve Smith continued his dominant run in India by scoring a sparkling 86. Despite possessing a strong batting lineup with the likes of Smith, Rahane, Dhoni, Tiwary and Stokes, Pune, however, slumped to a six-wicket defeat to KXIP.

Bowling appears to be Pune's weak link with only Imran Tahir having struck rhythm. Given that Delhi batsmen appear to be struggling, this is possibly a good opportunity for Pune bowlers to find their feet.

Delhi's bowling, on the other hand, was right on the money when they restricted RCB to a modest 157. The pace attack of Zaheer (2/31), Cummins (1/29) and Chris Morris (3/21) bowled impressively while Shahbaz Nadeem (1/13) was economical in the middle overs. However, Delhi's batting failed miserably. The talented Rishabh Pant fired with a 37-ball 57 to keep Delhi in the hunt till the end.

Head to Head

Given that RPS made their IPL debut last year, the two have met only twice and have won a game each.

Last Meeting

A rain-hit contest that RPS won by nine wickets (D/L). Batting first, Delhi posted a small 121 on the back of Chris Morris' 38 runs off 20 balls. RPS cruised home after two rain interruptions.

Predicted XI:

Rising Pune Supergiant: Ajinkya Rahane, Mayank Agarwal, MS Dhoni (wk), Steven Smith (c), Ashok Dinda, Rajat Bhatia, Adam Zampa, Deepak Chahar, Ben Stokes, Manoj Tiwary, Imran Tahir.

Delhi Daredevils: Sam Billings, Sanju Samson, Karun Nair, Carlos Brathwaite, Aditya Tare (wk), Chris Morris, Shabaz Nadeem, Mohammed Shami, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan (c), Kagiso Rabada.

Key Players:

Imran Tahir: (RPS): The South African leggie has scalped five wickets in two matches so far this season while being economical. Pune will rely heavily on the top-ranked ODI bowler, given that the rest of the bowling is yet to find rhythm.

Rishabh Pant: (DD): The talented Delhi lad wowed the cricketing world with his breathtaking knock against RCB. Rishabh's father had passed away two days before the match but duty came first for the middle-order batsman. Delhi will require him to fire again.

Time: 8 PM

Venue: Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune

TV Listings: Sony Six HD, Sony Six, Set Max, Sony ESPN