No Smith, Pune seek home turnaround
The last time Rising Pune Supergiant walked out at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Sanju Samson thrashed them to all corners of the park as they crashed to a 97-run loss against Delhi Daredevils in the IPL.
RPS skipper Steve Smith wasn’t a part of the disaster, out with an upset stomach, but must have been dismayed by the way his side surrendered, collapsing to the lowest total of the IPL this season. This time, the Australia skipper will miss out as he is taking a brief break.
Thus, when they host defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad here on Saturday, they’ll not just hope to script a victory to atone for the humiliating defeat, they’ll want to start afresh at home. It won’t be an easy task though, given that their opponents have won their last two games in style. However, with Sunrisers Hyderabad yet to win an away game this season, they might just sniff a chance.
Their explosive top three — David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson are in form and if even one of them manages to fire for Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday, Pune will have a task on hand. And chasing a big total won’t be easy with Bhuvneshwar Kumar --- the leading bowler of 2017 IPL --- and Rashid Khan leading the bowling. The duo has been extremely impressive in the IPL, having picked up 24 off their side’s 44 wickets so far.
The below-par batting show by Pune, boasting of Steve Smith, MS Dhoni, Ben Stokes and Ajinkya Rahane, has left the team languishing near the bottom of the table. Even in their last match against RCB that they managed to win, five of their batsmen managed to go past the 25-run mark but failed to build on their starts.
David Warner needs another fifty to become the first Sunrisers batsman to score 25 fifties. The Australian, who also played for DD, has the highest number of fifties (34) in IPL.
Steve Smith will miss two matches and Ajinkya Rahane will lead RPS in his absence.