Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) have just pride to play for as they are out of contention for a place in the IPL 2016 playoffs. Therefore, they will try to come out all guns blazing against the Delhi Daredevils (DD) in their penultimate match of IPL 2016.
The Daredevils still have three matches to go, including the game against RPS, and they will want to end the league stage of IPL 2016 with a flourish. The situation is such that the Delhi outfit cannot afford to lose any game. If they lose, it will help the other teams who are fighting for a place in the IPL 2016 playoffs.
This game against the Supergiants is a crucial one for the Daredevils and they will want to get back to winning ways, after they were handed a drubbing by the Mumbai Indians in their last game at the same venue.
Let us see how this game between RPS and DD in Visakhapatnam could play out:
If RPS bat first: Usman Khawaja and Ajinkya Rahane get off to great start. Khawaja is timing the ball brilliantly and Rahane too is keeping the scoreboard ticking from the other end. Zaheer Khan, struggling to stop the run flow from the two opening batsmen, brings in Amit Mishra in the seventh over. Mishra picks up the wicket of Rahane and breaks the partnership, which was looking dangerous. But it only happened after the duo added 73 runs inside the Powerplay overs. MS Dhoni pushes himself up the order. Khawaja continues to play his strokes and by the end of 14th over, RPS reach 135 runs for the loss of one wicket. The Aussie goes on to score a brilliant hundred from just 44 balls. Dhoni too remains unbeaten till the end and powers his side to a huge total of 213/1 at the end of 20 overs.
Quinton de Kock and Mayank Agarwal struggle during the first two-three overs, but open up thereafter. Dinda and Perera are taken for some meaty blows by the Daredevils openers. Dhoni throws the ball to R Ashwin and he dismisses Agarwal and Karun Nair in the same over and pulls things back in his side's favour. Delhi still need 150 runs in the last 10 overs. Sanju Samson and De Kock steady the ship but the target is too steep. In order to score runs quickly, the Daredevils lose their middle-order batsmen in quick succession and fall short by 45 runs in the end.
If DD bat first: Ashwin dismisses Agarwal off the very first ball of the match, putting extra pressure on the visitors. De Kock and Nair try to stablise the innings but they too fail to read Ashwin and Zampa's variation in the first six overs. The spinners remove Agarwal, Nair and De Kock in quick succession. JP Duminy and Samson add 130 runs together and pull Delhi out of the ditch they were in early on in the innings. The Daredevils post a total of 177 runs at the end of 20 overs.
Khawaja and Rahane fail to get off to a good start as both batsmen perish in the same Chris Morris over. George Bailey and Saurabh Tiwary play sensibly to get the Supergiants closer to the target, Pant runs Bailey out in the 16th over and Tiwary is cleaned up by Morris again. It is all down to Dhoni, as his side still needs 37 runs from the last three overs. Perera and Dhoni steer Pune past Delhi in the last over of the innings and win the match for their side.
