Hyderabad face resurgent Pune
hyderabad — Sunrisers Hyderabad will aim to bounce back when they take on a resurgent Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) at home on Saturday.
Pune swapped places with Hyderabad to be placed third in the league standings after registering three straight victories against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Gujarat Lions and Kolkata Knight Riders.
The hosts, on the other hand, will bank on their home record of winning all the five matches so far, to set their house in order as the tournament progresses to its business end. Hyderabad failed to defend their massive total of 185/3 against a young Delhi Daredevils side, who rode on a collected batting effort to hand the visitors a six-wicket loss at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Tuesday.
Veteran batsman Yuvraj Singh’s 25th T20 half century was overshadowed by some calculated batting efforts of the Delhi boys, specially skipper Karun Nair and New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson, who saw the team home with five balls to spare.
Going into Friday’s match, Hyderabad will once again hope for a flashy start from skipper David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan before the middle order comprising the likes of New Zealand’s Kane Williamson, Yuvraj and Moises Henriques take the Pune bowlers out of the park.
The home side, however needs to take care of the bowling department led by Purple Cap holder Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Afghanistan’s teenaged leg-spinner Rashid Khan, who looked off colour on Tuesday. Pune, meanwhile, will aim to carry on their winning momentum and cement their place in the top four for the race to the playoffs.
Young opening batsman Rahul Tripathi, whose 52-ball 93, single-handedly took the team to a four-wicket win against KKR on Wednesday, has emerged as the find of the tournament for the Pune side. The visitors will be hoping for another such blistering knock from the Maharashtra righthander along side skipper Steve Smith, Manoj Tiwary, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ben Stokes.
Pune’s main concern will be the form of the other opener Ajinkya Rahane, who has failed to compliment the hard-hitting Tripathi at the top. Among the bowlers, South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir has proved his worth in every match while young spinner Washington Sundar has impressed in the middle overs.
The pacers have also delivered decently with the likes of left-armer Jaydev Unadkat, Stokes, Shardul Thakur and Daniel Christian, coming good against KKR’s strong batting line-up.