IPL 2017: RPS vs GL, Face Off

Two teams, who have had mixed fortunes so far, take on each other at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune as Rising Pune Supergiant aim to consolidate a top four spot while Gujarat Lions look to bounce back from a heartbreaking super over defeat to Mumbai Indians.

The Steven Smith-led outfit have exceeded expectations by moving to fourth in the standings while Gujarat Lions have failed to replicate their performance from their inaugural season.

The Raina-led Gujarat side have, however, looked an improved outfit in recent matches courtesy their exploits with the ball. They closely fought out a super over against the Mumbai Indians two days back and despite losing, will take a lot of confidence from the manner in which they fought back in the game.

Their bowling has also improved tremendously in recent matches.

Rising Pune Supergiant will hope to have Ben Stokes fit and firing in time for the game but if not, they know that Lockie Ferguson is an able replacement with the ball. The Kiwi seamer walked away with the Man of the Match award for a stellar display against RCB in the last match.

Here, we look at a statistical analysis of the two teams by comparing their probable playing 11s. The stats are from the IPL and the winner is also predicted purely on the basis of these stats.

Player vs Player Comparison

Gujarat Lions	Rising Pune Supergiant	Who's the winner?
Ishan Kishan Runs-160, Avg-16, SR-125	Rahul Tripathi Runs-253, Avg-36.14, SR-150.6	RPS
Brendon McCullum Runs-2707, Avg-28.2, SR-130.9	Ajinkya Rahane Runs-2886, Avg-33.35, SR-120.96	Equal
Suresh Raina Runs-4408, Avg-34.44, SR-138.66	Steven Smith Runs-1551, Avg-38.77, SR-135.92	Equal
Aaron Finch Runs-1490, Avg-27.59, SR-128.45	Manoj Tiwary Runs-1506, Avg-30.12, SR-116.93	Equal
Dinesh Karthik Runs-2734, Avg-24.19, SR-124.67	MS Dhoni Runs-3444, Avg-38.7, SR-137.93	RPS
Dwayne Smith Runs-2240, Avg-28.35, SR-133.41 Wkts-26, Avg-29.08, Eco-8.9	Dan Christian Runs-383, Avg-18.24, SR-121.2 Wkts-23, Avg-33.4, Eco-7.88	GL
Ravindra Jadeja Runs-1655, Avg-23.31, SR-121.41 Wkts-81, Avg-29.51, Eco-7.76	Washington Sundar Wkts-2, Avg-42, Eco-7	N/A
James Faulkner Runs-498, Avg-22.64, SR-137.9 Wkts-57, Avg-28.19, Eco-8.5	Lockie Ferguson Wkts-2, Avg-25.5, Eco-6.38	N/A
Irfan Pathan Runs-1139, Avg-21.49, SR-120.4 Wkts-80, Avg-33.11, Eco-7.78	Jaydev Unadkat Wkts-39, Avg-29.18, Eco-8.34	GL
Basil Thampi Wkts-6, Avg-43, Eco-8.9	Deepak Chahar Wkts-1, Avg-115, Eco-9.58	N/A
Ankit Soni Wkts-2, Avg-22, Eco-6.29	Imran Tahir Wkts-42, Avg-21.55, Eco-8.5	N/A

Rising Pune Supergiant 2-2 Gujarat Lions

Both team seem pretty equal on paper with Rising Pune Supergiant slightly edging Gujarat in the batting department. Pune, however, haven't been at their best with the bat in recent games.

Gujarat has improved by leaps and bounds in the bowling department. This makes the contest all the more interesting. A couple of tight overs or a brilliant piece of fielding could decide the fate of this encounter.