The Rising Pune Supergiant will take on the Kings XI Punjab at Maharashtra Cricket Association at Pune in the 55th match of this season of Indian Premiere League 2017 on Sunday. Both the teams will aim to seal the playoffs berth in today’s match. Currently RPS is in the 3rd position with 16 points and KXIP are in the 5th position with 14 points.
With a narrow win against the Mumbai Indians, KXIP will be high on confidence. For RPS they need to strive hard as a batting unit. Against Delhi Daredevils their batting failed that’s why they lost the match by just 7 runs. Apart from Manoj Tiwari’s 66 no other batsmen contributed for them in that chase.
Let’s take a look at the players to watch out for RPS:
Ben Stokes - His athletic skills in cricket are simply mind blowing. Ben Stokes is the most expensive foreign player in the history of IPL. The catch he took to dismiss Mohd Shami on Friday night made everyone’s day. He is the one who can be very useful when he comes to on the cricket field. Ben Stokes played a magical knock against the KXIP in their last encounter in this season. He was the saviour for the Pune team in the match. The other batsmen struggled to score runs in front of the Punjab bowlers but Ben Stokes took the responsibility and ensured that he guided the team to dependable score. His bowling has also been good. Steve Smith and the team will hope that Ben Stokes fires with his all round skills in today’s match as well.
MS Dhoni – MSD hasn’t been that good with the bat in this season. But his inputs and awesome wicket-keeping skills had helped the Pune team a lot. As a senior pro in the team, it’s MS Dhoni who helps the team when they are in trouble. In crunch match, RPS will need Dhoni’s golden touch with the bat. If he performs well then RPS can seal the playoff berth today itself.
Jaydev Unadkat – The youngster had bowled some magical spells in this year’s tournament. Bowling has been a positive sign for RPS. That has come because of bowlers like Jaydev Unadkat, Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar. Rajat Bhatia, Daniel Christan, Imran Tahir and Adam Zampa.
Adam Zampa – In the absence of Imran Tahir, Adam Zampa will have more work to do if RPS wants to seal that playoff berth. The Aussie spinner hasn’t got much of an opportunity. But now he will be the main spinner for the Pune team. He has been bowling well and picking up crucial wickets but he needs to continue doing so. Skipper Steve Smith will be heavily relying on his team mate to do a perfect job for his team.
The players to watch out for KXIP:
Wriddhiman Saha – The wicket-keeper batsman played good innings of 93 not out against Mumbai Indians. In absence of Hashim Amla, the team will want a good start from this wicket-keeper batsman. His naturally aggressive batting suits him as an opener for KXIP. His attacking batting style will help the team in a good way.
Axar Patel – The hard hitting all rounder is luxury to have in the team in a format like this. He has been giving lusty blows towards the end of the innings for KXIP. His hard hitting ability will make a difference of 15 to 20 runs to the eventual score. That might prove a huge difference in the end.
Mohit Sharma – A new death over king in a making for KXIP! Mohit Sharma gave only 7 runs in last over when Mumbai needed 16 of the final over. Mohit will be expected to bowl such overs more. He is a player to watch out for in this match.
