Melbourne Renegades face Adelaide Strikers in a crunch Big Bash League (BBL) encounter at the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne on Monday.
This is a do-or-die match for the Renegades, as they not only need to win, but they need to pick up a victory by a big margin.
The Melbourne Renegades will have to win by at least 38 runs if batting first or chase down the target set by the Strikers in 15.3 overs to better their net run rate and put themselves in a position for the playoffs.
Sydney Thunder won their last game against Sydney Sixers by 46 runs and Melbourne Stars moved to the third spot in the BBL 2015-2016 points table after beating Perth Scorchers by 52 runs. These two heavy victories made things difficult for the Renagades.
The Renegades are up against the upbeat Strikers, who have lost just one match out of the seven they have played so far in this season of the BBL. Strikers will look to continue their dream run against the Renegades as well.
"Winning is a habit and you want to keep a good thing going, we've just got to go out and play the best cricket we possibly can," Strikers coach Jason Gillespie told reporters ahead of the last group stage match.
"Hopefully we can get down to Etihad, put on a good show, play the best cricket we possibly can. We know the Renegades are a dangerous side and have some quality match-winners so we have to play at our best to compete with them."
Renegades have won all their three matches chasing, while losing four after batting first. Batting has been their strength and chasing totals down allows them to have a control over the game. A lot will depend on their destructive opener Chris Gayle, who is yet to show his best in BBL season 5. Strikers will be wary of Gayle's ability to tonk the bowlers, and they will want to chalk out a plan to get him out early, because if the big West Indian is on song then the match will well and truly be out of the Strikers' hands.
Squads: Adelaide Strikers: Brad Hodge (C), Jono Dean, Travis Head, Jon Holland, Hamish Kingston, Ben Laughlin, Jake Lehmann, Tim Ludeman, Michael Neser, Adil Rashid, Alex Ross, Kelvin Smith, Greg West.
Melbourne Renegades: Cameron White (C), Dwayne Bravo, Tom Beaton, Tom Cooper, Xavier Doherty, Cameron Gannon, Chris Gayle, Nathan Hauritz, Ben McDermott, Peter Nevill, Nathan Rimmington, Cameron Stevenson, Chris Tremain.
Where to watch live
The BBL encounter between Melbourne Renegades and Adelaide Strikers is scheduled for a 7:40 pm local time (2:10 pm IST, 9:40 am BST and 8:40 am GMT) start. T20 fans in India can tune into Star Sports 1 and Star Sports HD 1.
The fans can also live stream the match on Starsports.com and Hotstar.com.
Fans in Australia, can switch to Fox Sports and Ten Network to catch the live action of Melbourne Renegades vs Adelaide Strikers.
Melbourne Renegades vs Adelaide Strikers can be live streamed online on Tenplay,Bigbash.com.au and cricket.com.au.
Viewers in UK can tune into Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports HD 1 to catch the live action of Melbourne Renegades vs Adelaide Strikers.
Watch Sky Sports will stream the match live in UK.
Fans in US can tune into Willow TV to watch Renegades vs Strikers. The fans can also stream the same on Willow TV Online.
