It’s Round 2 of the battle between Dhoni and Raina in the Vivo IPL! Gujarat Lions travel to Pune to take on the Rising Pune Supergiants who finally managed to end their losing streak by beating the fancied Sunrisers at Hyderabad. Gujarat somehow managed to survive the Morris onslaught and registered their 5th win in 6 games. It has been a wonderful tournament for the Lions, a few wins more and they could book their place in the playoffs. Lions had beaten the Supergiants in their previous match at Rajkot and MS Dhoni's men will be desperate to pull one back in their home conditions. I would pick Rising Pune Supergiants as probable winners for this tie because the conditions at Pune may not favour the free flowing attacking styles of some of the Lions batsmen.
Venue: Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium, Pune
Match date: April 29, 2016
Match timings: 2000 hrs IST
If Gujarat Lions bat first
Predicted score: 150 and above
Dwayne Smith will open with Brendon McCullum. They pitch at Pune has been little two paced, we might not see a massive partnership like we saw against Delhi Daredevils. Mitchell Marsh could get the better of the openers here. The batsmen coming into the middle would need to play a key role for the Lions.
Suresh Raina might need to anchor the innings. Dinesh Karthik and Dwayne Bravo will be expected to provide impetus to the innings. Fancy Raina getting to a fifty before the 15th over of the innings. Rajat Bhatia should do a decent holding job as he has done all through this season. Gujarat should finish with a score in the range of 150.
The bowlers would have to do an exceptional job for the Lions to defend a score around that range. Dhawal Kulkarni, James Faulkner, and Bravo could be taken to cleaners by the Supergiants formidable top order if they get it wrong. Gujarat may just pick one wicket in the powerplays as a lot will depend on their strike bowler Praveen Kumar. Also with dew around, the spin twins of Jadeja and Tambe would find it tough to restrict the scoring rate. Pune should comfortably chase anything around 150.
If the Rising Pune Supergiants bat first
Predicted score: 165 and above
Expect Ajinkya Rahane to anchor the innings. He has usually been pretty consistent at the top and he would want to make a statement in this match after a rare failure against the Sunrisers. Faf du Plessis is out for the season with a finger injury. Peter Handcomb might be replacing Faf du Plessis today to combat the Lions. Steve Smith should join Rahane and pepper the leg side with his trademark strokes. The likes of Perera, Marsh and Dhoni should finish the innings on a high. Dhoni will surely want to avenge the defeat in Rajkot and we might see him coming in at no. 4 to play an innings of substance.
Ashok Dinda was a revelation in the previous game and he would be expected to do more of the same here. A couple of early wickets for him will set the cat amongst the pigeons for the Lions. Dinda will target the body of Raina but we expect Raina to be better prepared this time around. Murugan Ashwin and Ravichandran Ashwin should bowl well between them and that should be enough to break the backbone of the Lions batting. Dhoni's boys definitely have it in them to stall the charge of the Lions and the Lions would be wary of that.
Probable winners: Rising Pune Supergiants
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