The table toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad will take on the struggling Rising Pune Supergiants in the 40th match of IPL. Though Visakhapatnam has been allocated to Pune as their new home venue, it offers much more homeliness to Sunrisers as they had played a few games here in the last season as their home ground. Where Sunrisers seem a certainty to finish in the top 4, Supergiants need to win all their remaining 4 matches and by huge margins to make a case for the playoffs.
The Match will be live from 20:00 IST, 2:30 GMT. Watch live streaming of SRH v/s RPS on www.starsports.com and www.hotstar.com. Mobile users can watch live streaming of SRH v/s RPS on the Hotstar App. You can also watch the live telecast of SRH v/s RPS 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 in Visakhapatnam.
In modern day cricket where the game is dominated by batsmen, Sunrisers have been an exception to the rule, winning games by quality bowling. The trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra, and Mustafizur Rahman have simply dictated terms to the batting side marvellous pace bowling. Backed up by Barinder Sran, they form a formidable lineup.
Kumar and Rahman both have picked up 13 wickets each in 9 innings. Mustafizur especially has been outstanding with his change-ups. He can bowl different deliveries with minimal changes in action. His bag of tricks makes him an ideal foil for T20 bowling.
The batting has been heavily dependent on David Warner who is the second highest run scorer in the tournament behind Virat Kohli. Fortunately for them, Shikhar Dhawan has picked up some form in the recent games.
Surely there will come a time when other batsmen would be required to win games for the SRH. They have been boosted by the return of Yuvraj Singh. The likes of Moises Henriques and Kane Williamson need to take more responsibility as the tournament now approaches the business end.
The opposition Supergiants haven’t had a pleasing time in their first year as a franchise. They have lost 3 games out of last 4 they played. In the last game, despite getting 191 in the first innings, they were denied a victory by a magical ton from Virat Kohli.
Ravichandran Ashwin’s poor form has been the most disappointing thing of the tournament. He was supposed to play a big part for the team. But on most occasions, he hasn’t even bowled his full quota of 4 overs. He has picked up just 3 wickets in 10 matches. The team needed a plenty more from him right from the start.
Ajinkya Rahane is the stand out performer for RPS. He has piled on 417 runs in 10 innings with 6 half centuries. There hasn’t been enough support for him from the other batsmen. MS Dhoni has also underperformed in the tournament as per his high standards.
They now need to win their remaining 4 matches by big margins to boost their net run rate and reach 14 points. But having to play 3 of the 4 matches against teams in the top 4, it looks highly unlikely that they would make it to the playoffs this year.
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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