Supergiant seek first win over Lions

Monday’s Indian Premier League match between Rising Pune Supergiant and Gujarat Lions at the MCA Stadium is probably their final contest, considering this is their final year in the cash-rich T20 tournament.

Rising Pune Supergiant and Gujarat Lions came in place of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, who were suspended for two years by the Supreme Court-appointed Justice RM Lodha Committee. The Steve Smith-led Rising Pune Supergiant would look to finally open their account against Gujarat Lions with a win. In their previous three encounters, Suresh Raina’s Gujarat Lions have come out dominant over Rising Pune Supergiant. The confidence of Steve Smith’s team is on a high after a thumping 61-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday. It was their third win defending a sub-par total, which will give them confidence.

Smith and Co seem to have picked up late momentum with four wins in their last five matches. While RPS is still overreliant on Smith in the batting department, other batsmen are also steadily chipping in.

Ajinkya Rahane’s form remains a concern for Pune as the India batsman has scored just 211 runs in nine matches at an average of 23.44. Since his half-century in the IPL 10 opener against Mumbai Indians, Rahane’s form has been patchy and his innings haven’t been as fluent as would be expected. Although Rahane has insisted he is happy with the way he is bating, the inconsistencies in his scores portray a different picture. Rahane has been overshadowed by his young opening partner Rahul Tripathi, who has notched 30-plus scores in his last six innings – a first in IPL. Most of the times, Tripathi with his cleanhitting has made up for the poor strike rate of Rahane.

Just as Gujarat Lions seemed to be getting into the groove, skipper Suresh Raina has been jolted by another injury blow.

Already without the services of Dwayne Bravo, Gujarat Lions on Sunday will miss pacer Andrew Tye. Tye including a hattrick, on his IPL debut after being on the bench for 34 IPL games, dislocated his left shoulder while fielding on the boundary during their loss against MI.