The battle for who finishes in the Top 4 in the 2017 Indian Premier League is beginning to heat up. On Saturday afternoon, the carnival moves to Hyderabad, where the defending champions- the Sunrisers Hyderabad- take on the Rising Pune Supergiant in Game 1 of doubleheader Saturday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal.
Both teams come into the game after contrasting results in their favour. The home team will look to get back to winning ways after suffering a defeat at the hands of the Delhi Daredevils on Monday while the visitors are currently carrying some excellent winning momentum, having won their last three games, thereby climbing to the third spot in the points table.
For the Sunrisers, their top order batting will once again hold the key. David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan will once again look to get their side begin in an aggressive fashion and the middle-order, consisting of the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Deepak Hooda and Kane Williamson, who has provided solidity to the side, would need to capitalise on the start given by the openers.
In the last game against the Delhi Daredevils, the bowlers failed to defend 185 runs. The likes of Bhuvneshwa Kumar, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Siraj, Sidharth Kaul will look to put in a much better showing on home turf on Saturday and further strengthen their chances to finishing in the Top 2 in the Points Table.
As far as the Supergiant are concerned, they are coming into the game on the back three consecutive victories, which has boosted their chances to make it to the Playoffs significantly.
The talking point of their triumphs has been the little-known Rahul Tripathi, who has proven to be the team’s ‘Mr.Consistent’ with the way he has played fearlessly at the top of the order. In the last game, the Ranchi-born cricketer slammed 93 runs to help his side beat the Kolkata Knight Riders, away from home.
Extra Cover: IPL 2017 SRH vs RPS: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) probable playing 11 against Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS)
Needlessly to say, Pune will depend upon their skipper Steve Smith as well as MS Dhoni, but their big concern heading into the game will be the form of Ajinkya Rahane, who has failed to get going in this competition so far.
In their bowling, Imran Tahir will once again hold the aces and will hope to get support from the likes of Deepak Chahar, Washington Sundar and others.
Predictions:
If SRH bat first: 170+
With a formidable batting line-up at their disposal, the defending champions could put up a challenging score on the board for the RPS batsman to chase against a bowling attack, that has almost all bases covered.
If RPS bat 1st: 170+
Almost all the batsmen in the Supergiants batting line-up has got a score to his name. They would hope for them to come good in conditions that are conducive to batting and further extend their winning streak.
Prediction: It promises to be a really intriguing contest, but Sunrisers have done well at home and they could emerge victorious in the game.
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