What

Rising Pune Supergiants set up a home clash with the Mumbai Indians in Match 29 of VIVO IPL 2016.

RPS have had a poor tournament so far, winning just two of half their season’s quota of 14 matches. The team has been handicapped by injuries to several of its first choice players; Kevin Pietersen and Faf du Plessis have been ruled out of the rest of the season, while Mitchell Marsh was unavailable for the previous match because of a side strain. The batsmen have done fairly well, giving the bowlers competitive, if not match-winning totals consistently, but the bowlers have just not got their act together. In their most recent outing – fairly representative of the team’s fortunes so far, the team failed to defend 195.

The Mumbai Indians meanwhile have surged since a poor start to the season. The defending champions won only one of their initial four matches, but have since won three of their next four. In their most recent outing – their final match in front of their home crowd at the Wankhede Stadium, MI defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders in style. Apart from the two points they earned from that match on Thursday, MI will be happy that Kieron Pollard has found his mojo; the Trinidadian blitzed his way to a 17-ball fifty – his first in 17 innings for MI. Most departments are functional and are delivering what’s expected of them; the only area that needs to enhance performance is the spin bowling department. MI have realised only seven wickets so far from Harbhajan Singh and Krunal Pandya. With wickets expected to become slower as the season rolls to the back end, it is important that both the players start to hit a rhythm.

When

1 May 2016, 2000 Hrs IST

Where

MCA International Stadium, Pune

Weather

Temperature: Max 32°c, Min 26°c
Humidity: Max 56%
Wind: 11kmph

The Protagonists

With their misfiring bowling attack, Rising Pune Supergiants possibly need to score 15-20 more runs than most other sides would be comfortable with. Ajinkya Rahane and Steve Smith will need to do what they did against the Gujarat Lions; Rahane scored a half-century, and Smith scored his maiden T20 century.

Numbers best illustrate the key performers for MI. Rohit Sharma is the team’s top run-getter so far this season and he has been the team’s top scorer in three of their four wins. The team seems to be getting a lot out of batting Ambati Rayudu at number three too; since his promotion to one-drop, Rayudu has made scores of 54, 31, 25, 65 & 31, and has been involved in second-wicket partnerships of 21, 76, 53, 137 & 59. Kieron Pollard’s return to form in the previous match augurs well for the defending champions too; the Trinidadian is capable of rescuing matches, winning matches and destroying opponents single-handedly.

Mitchell McClenaghan has been impressive, holds the Purple Cap, and is a very important cog in MI’s bowling plans. The one area of his game the Kiwi bowler will want to tighten up is the number of boundary balls he dishes up; the left-arm quick has conceded more runs through boundaries than any other bowler this season.

Head to Head

On the opening night of VIVO IPL 2016, MS Dhoni’s Rising Pune Supergiants caused an upset of sorts when they defeated the defending champions Mumbai Indians. After restricting the hosts to 121-8 at the Wankhede Stadium, the Supergiants cantered to a 9-wicket win with 5.2 overs to spare.

Trivia

In his last three innings at the MCA International Stadium in Pune, Ajinkya Rahane has made scores of 60, 67 & 53.

Rising Pune Supergiants are the only team to have not win a home match so far this season; they’ve played 3 matches so far and have ended up on the losing side in each one of them.

RPS’ best opening partnership in their last six matches has been 27. In their last six matches, MI’s best opening partnership has been 9.

What Next

For Rising Pune Supergiants: Vs. Delhi Daredevils in Delhi, 5 May 2016 (8pm)

For Mumbai Indians: Vs. Sunrisers Hyderabad in Visakhapatnam, 8 May 2016 (4pm)