The two new franchises meet for the second time this season in Friday’s sole match in the Indian Premier League. This is the penultimate match in Pune and it is a big one for the home side Rising Pune Supergiants who need wins if they are to catch their opponents the Gujarat Lions.
These two met in one of the early matches in the season and the Lions ran out very comfortable winners chasing down a decent looking target with ease and with plenty of time to spare. The Supergiants will be out to avenge that defeat.
Rising Pune Supergiants
You don’t have to look too far to determine where the problems lie for the Supergiants this season. In fact you don’t have to look at all because MS Dhoni has been very vocal about their bowlers not performing to potential in his interviews.
Pune have been solid with the bat and they’ll need to be that here too but their bowling is a real concern even though they managed to restrict the Sunrisers in their previous match. Ashok Dinda came into the side for that game and if he can be consistent it would be significant.
Gujarat Lions
The Lions are going along really nicely this season and now that James Faulkner is in the side they look much better balanced again. They were given an almighty scare by Chris Morris and Delhi on Wednesday and they won’t want to leave things as close as that again here.
The strength in depth of the Lions is very strong and that is arguably the advantage they have on most of the teams in this competition. They have the personnel to fit any kind of wicket too so their strong form comes as no surprise.
Team news
Having lost Kevin Pietersen a week or two back, the Pune Supergiants have now lost Faf du Plessis for the rest of the tournament as he has a broken finger. Usman Khawaja is rumoured to be on the hit list to replace the South African but he won’t be around to feature here.
It remains to be seen if the Gujarat Lions make any changes to their side. They don’t need to make changes but Aaron Finch is likely to be available for this one so he could come back in if they can find a spot in the side for him.
Form
Rising Pune Supergiants: WLLLLW
Gujarat Lions: WWWLWW
Head to head: Rising Pune Supergiants 0-1 Gujarat Lions
In Pune: First meeting
Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium
This is the third match in the tournament on this ground with the previous two games being high scoring even though when Kolkata were in town in the last match here the wicket was criticised for the amount of turn it took.
The outfield here is lightning fast so the one thing going for the batsmen is that they get full value for their shots. All things being equal this is a high scoring ground but with the drought ongoing we should expect plenty of turn here.
Betting
You have to like the Lions here. Their key batsmen – Dwayne Smith, McCullum and Raina, all faced the pick of the Pune bowlers in the nets in their time together at the Chennai Super Kings and the variations that Gujarat Lions have with the ball make them hard to beat on any surface.
The big concern for the Supergiants in this match is their batting line up. Faf du Plessis has been their best batsman of the season and he is out of this match and that is a hole that will take some plugging.
There are no concerns with the Lions. They’re in good form. They had plenty to spare when they won the reverse meeting between these two sides and I fancy them to win this one too.
Tips
WON – Back Gujarat Lions to beat Rising Pune Supergiants for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Ladbrokes
Back them here:
