The Rising Pune Supergiant will want to confirm their qualification into the playoffs of IPL 2017 with a win over the Delhi Daredevils, and they will look to their all-round man Ben Stokes to deliver with bat and ball again.
While the Delhi Daredevils are out of the running for a spot in the final four, RPS will secure their position with a win at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Friday. A win will not confirm a top two place, but it will strengthen their position further of having two opportunities at making it to the IPL 2017 final.
With so much at stake, expect RPS to come hard at the Delhi Daredevils and with their strongest possible playing XI.
There might be doubts over Stokes' availability for the entirety of the tournament, but for this game, all eyes will be on the man in form.
Stokes, after a sedate start to the IPL life, has been in rip-roaring form with bat and ball, and one of the key reasons why RPS find themselves in such a strong position to qualify for the playoffs.
There will be extra responsibility on the Englishman to perform, with RPS set to be without Imran Tahir, their leading wicket-taker in IPL 2017, and Faf Du Plessis. Both have left to join up with the South Africa squad for a training camp ahead of a series against England and the ICC Champions Trophy.
While Du Plessis has hardly featured in IPL 2017, Tahir will be a big miss, even if RPS do have a pretty good replacement in Adam Zampa. The Australian was RPS' top wicket-taker last season, so the hope will be Zampa can turn on the wicket-taking style in Tahir's absence.
Much like the Rising Pune Supergiant, the Delhi Daredevils also have key players missing – Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada and Angelo Mathews have all left to join up with their respective national teams, while Sam Billings will not return to the team either.
DD did pretty well in their last match without those players, though, with a Shreyas Iyer pearl helping them chase down a big score against the Gujarat Lions.
They might have little to play for, but with so many youngsters in the team with so much to prove, expect the Delhi Daredevils to give RPS a really tough fight on Friday.
After picking up a win over the Gujarat Lions, DD are expected to go with the same playing XI, although sticking to the same team is something they are not too fond of doing.
If there is to be a change, it could be a spinner – either Jayant Yadav or Shahbaz Nadeem – coming in for Mohammed Shami, who has not quite been at his best in the last couple of games.
Confirmed playing XI:
Delhi Daredevils: Sanju Samson, Karun Nair, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Marlon Samuels, Corey Anderson, Pat Cummins, Shahbaz Nadeem, Amit Mishra, Mohammed Shami, Zaheer Khan (C).
Rising Pune Supergiant: Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Tripathi, Steve Smith (C), Manoj Tiwary, Ben Stokes, MS Dhoni, Dan Christian, Washington Sundar, Adam Zampa, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat.
