Forty-eight matches of the IPL 2016 done and dusted. The 49th will feature Rising Pune Supergiants hosting Delhi Daredevils at Visakhapatnam. RPS are languishing at the bottom of the points table whereas DD despite performing well throughout the tournament find themselves at number 6. They have 3 games in hand though and can make it to the playoffs with results going their way.
Last time these two teams met in the league, RPS enjoyed one of their only 3 victories so far this season. DD, batting first scored 162/7. Rajat Bhatia bowled well and picked up 2 wickets for 22 runs. RPS chased the total down in the final over thanks to a brilliant 63 off 48 from Ajinkya Rahane.The Match will be live from 20:00 IST, 2:30 GMT. Watch live streaming of RPS v/s DD on www.starsports.com and www.hotstar.com. Mobile users can watch live streaming of RPS v/s DD on the Hotstar App. You can also watch the live telecast of RPS v/s DD on Sony ESPN, Sony ESPN HD, Sony Six, Sony Six HD, Sony Max. The match will be played at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium at Visakhapatnam.
DD come into this game after suffering a hammering at the hands of MI. Krunal Pandya thrashed their bowling with 86 runs off just 37 balls which aided MI to roll over to a first innings total of a massive 206. Chasing the huge total, DD batting collapsed miserably and got bowled out for 126 and handed MI a win by a huge margin of 80 runs.
Their batting will once again depend on Quinton de Kock. He is their leading run-scorer and also 8th overall in the league with 381 runs in 10 innings. DD’s final scores have been defined heavily by the kind of starts de Kock provided. For others like Sanju Samson, Karun Nair and especially JP Duminy, it is time to put the hand up and share more responsibilities of the batting department.
In the last game against MI, the bowlers got a beating, especially the spinners. Imran Tahir went for 59 runs,Mishra for 42 and Nadeem for 42. Only Zaheer Khan went for less than 6 runs an over. Though RPS batting hasn’t been as explosive yet, they can’t afford to give away those many runs at this stage of the league. They need victories to ensure a playoff spot or things can change very quickly in T20s.
RPS, on the other hand, lost to KKR in the last game which was affected by rain. But before the rain intervened, they had already lost their way as they were reduced to 103/6 in the 18th over. KKR were given a target of 66 in 6 overs which they achieved in just 5. The batting woes continued for RPS in that game too.
Their only bright performer Ajinkya Rahane failed in the last game and so did the team. He is the lone warrior from RPS featuring in the top 10 run getters in the league. He has scored 6 half-centuries in 12 innings and amassed 419 runs. Due to lack of support from others, his performances have been left high and dry.
MS Dhoni has had a terrible tournament which is a very rare. He has been highly successful as an IPL captain, but leading RPS has hampered his supremacy. There is no doubt about the efforts put in by him, but the injuries to the top players like Pietersen, du Plessis, Mitchell Marsh and Steve Smith very early in the league didn’t help his cause at all.
At this stage of the league where they have no chance to qualify for the playoffs, they will be playing for pride. They have a chance to test their bench strength as they did with Irfan Pathan in the last couple of games to figure out the right combination for next season. They can prove to be thorns in the path for other teams like DD.
The match will be broadcasted live on SuperSport in Africa, Geo Super in Pakistan, Maasranga in Bangladesh, Set Max and Sony Six in Bhutan, ESPN in the US, and Sky Sports in the UK. The live streaming of the match can also be watched on CricketGateway.com in Australia.
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