What

Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rising Pune Supergiant will come up against each other in Match 44.

In their most-recent outing, SRH finished on the wrong side of the result against a young Delhi Daredevils side. Despite posting 185, SRH – who perhaps have the best bowling side in the tournament - failed to defend the target as DD got across the line in the final over. The defending champions are still in the top four, though they have lost a bit of footing and have slipped one place down in the table.

Rising Pune Supergiant will believe they have found momentum at the right time. After winning just one of their first four matches, RPS have had a rapid climb, winning six of their next seven matches. In their most recent match, they handed the Kolkata Knight Riders their first defeat at home. The RPS management must be glad to see that different players are putting their hands up at different instances and doing the job for the team. The one area RPS will be concerned with is the lack of runs from Ajinkya Rahane; that apart, things are falling in place, and RPS will be aware they are very close to sealing a playoff spot.

When

06 May 2017, 1600 Hrs IST

Where

Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad

The Protagonists

David Warner – for obvious reasons. The SRH captain sits at the top of the run-scorer’s list this season and has batted beautifully. Warner has shouldered the responsibility extremely well; there have been occasions when he has batted in second-gear and held one end up, while there have been other times – like the match against KKR – when he has come out wanting to make a statement

Rahul Tripathi is RPS’ man in-form. The youngster is the team’s top run-getter this season – and that is some feat by itself given the team’s batting line-up consists of players like Steve Smith and Ajinkya Rahane who bat in the top three. Ben Stokes will part ways with the team shortly – and RPS will want to seal off the playoff berth before the champion all-rounder heads off for international duties.

On the bowling front, keep your eyes on Bhuvneshwar Kumar, apart from the two exciting leg-spinners – Rashid Khan and Imran Tahir.

Match within the match

Bhuvneshwar Kumar against Steven Smith, and David Warner against Imran Tahir are two battles which promise to be exciting. Among other contests, it will be interesting to see what if Bhuvneshwar Kumar does anything different to keep MS Dhoni quiet.

Head to Head

Overall: Matches played – 3, SRH Won – 1, RPS Won – 2.

Earlier this season, RPS and SRH produced a last-ball finish in Pune. Chasing 177 for a win, it took a signature MS Dhoni innings – start slow, take the contest to the end and then finish with a flourish – to take RPS over the line.

Trivia

Sunrisers Hyderabad are undefeated in five matches at home this season.

Rashid Khan is the top wicket-taker in T20s in 2017; the Afghan cricketer has picked up 30 wickets in 18 matches so far this year. Imran Tahir is second in the list with 28 wickets from 15 T20 matches.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar needs two more wickets to become the highest wicket-taker in IPL matches in Hyderabad; he current trails Dale Steyn and Amit Mishra, who have 26 IPL wickets at the venue.

What Next

For Sunrisers Hyderabad: Return Fixture (Home) Vs. Mumbai Indians, May 8

For Rising Pune Supergiant: Return Fixture (Away) Vs. Delhi Daredevils, May 12