Kolkata Knight Riders visit Pune to take on the Rising Pune Supergiants in the match no. 20 of the Vivo Indian Premier League, 2016. KKR, the table toppers, would like to continue on their merry way at this season’s IPL. KKR have been extremely professional with the way they have gone about things and Gautam Gambhir & Co. would be keen to keep their juggernaut rolling. Hoping to stop them on the other end will be MS Dhoni's boys who are languishing at the bottom end of the points table. Kolkata, on account of their present form, start favourites for this game.
Venue: Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune
Match Date: April 24, 2016
Match Timings: 2000 hrs IST
If Kolkata Knight Riders bat first
Predicted score: 175 and above.
They would like to score anywhere between 170 and 180 to put Pune under massive pressure. KKR certainly have the batting arsenal to get to such kind of total. Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir have an almost always gave them a strong foundation.
Manish Pandey and Shakib Al Hasan have batted according to the demands of the situation after their openers have provided rollicking starts time and again. The fact that Manish Pandey will be missing for the match will be a big blow for KKR. R Satish should ideally take his spot as Gambhir might not want to tamper with his foreign combination. There is also a lot of firepowers lower down the order with the likes of Yusuf Pathan and Andre Russell.
On the bowling front, the spin trio of Sunil Narine, Shakib Al Hasan, and Piyush Chawla have been simply outstanding in the last couple of games. Their performances have been one of the key reasons why the KKR are sitting pretty at the top. The match will be decided on how the Pune batters tackle the spinners. Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav have been useful at the top and good enough in the death.
If Rising Pune Supergiants bat first:
Predicted score: 155 and above
The injury to Kevin Pietersen will force a change in the line-up of the Supergiants. We might see Albie Morkel coming in to bolster their bowling and also add some incentive to their batting. Rahane and Du Plessis would want to start aggressively at the top. Steve Smith might bat at no. 3 in this match. MS Dhoni needs to show more intent in the middle. Perera and Morkel can throw caution to wind towards the end of the innings.
Coming to the bowling attack, Deepak Chahar might be added to the mix as he could come in handy w
ith his seamers up front along with Ishant Sharma. There is also the all round option of Thisara Perera who smacked it with the bat a couple of nights back. The combination of R Ashwin and M Ashwin needs to start firing again and they would dearly want to pick up at least three big wickets between them.
If the opening bowlers can prise out the key wickets of Uthappa and Gambhir early on in the innings then the game should open up. Dhoni needs to bring all his experience into play by motivating his troops to fight it out. Needless to say, if Pune does not show the vigor and passion needed, it could be curtains for them very soon in this edition of the IPL.
Probable Winners: Kolkata Knight Riders
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