With the tenth edition of the IPL now well underway, we have all the key details so you don’t miss a ball of Rising Pune Supergiant’s opening clash with Mumbai Indians.
We’ll have all of the following important information for every single T20 fixture from Indian cricket’s premier T20 competition.
DATE, TIME, VENUE INFO
Date: April 6, 2017 (Thursday)
Time: 18:30 GST, 20:00 local time (IST), 14:30 GMT
Venue: Maharashtra Cricket Association’s International Stadium, Pune.
WHERE TO WATCH, LIVE STREAMING INFO
TV: UAE – OSN Sports Cricket HD, India – Sony Six, Sony Six HD (English), Sony Max, Sony Max HD 3 (Hindi), UK – Sky Sports
Online streaming: hotstar.com, Hotstar app (in India only)
LIVE blog: Sport360.com blog
TEAM NEWS, SQUADS, PREDICTED XIs
RPS SQUAD:
Steve Smith (C), Mayank Agarwal, Ankit Sharma, Baba Aparajith, Ankush Bains, Rajat Bhatia, Deepak Chahar, Rahul Chahar, Dan Christian, MS Dhoni (W), Ashok Dinda, Faf du Plessis, Lockie Ferguson, Imran Tahir, Jaskaran Singh, Usman Khawaja, Ajinkya Rahane, Saurabh Kumar, Ben Stokes, Milind Tandon, Manoj Tiwary, Adam Zampa, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishwar Pandey, Rahul Tripathi, Shardul Thakur.
Having signed Ben Stokes for big money and changed the captaincy from MS Dhoni to Steve Smith, RPSG have garnered plenty of headlines.
But, having finished seventh last term, they will want to tinker with their side to get back to winning ways. Ajinkya Rahane at the top is dependable, as is Faf du Plessis – and uncapped Indian Mayank Agarwal could get a look-in as well.
Having lost Ravichandran Ashwin to an injury before the tournament, Adam Zampa who was impressive for Pune last year, will have the responsibility of leading the spin attack.
RPSG have lot of options in the all-rounder department with Stokes leading the way, while IPL veteran Rajat Bhatia and rookie Baba Aparajith act as back-up.
Skipper Smith will look to continue his great form with the willow and we all know what fans’ favourite MS can do.
The fast bowling department was a worry for RPSG last year and they will look to change that this time around.
Shardul Thakur and Ashoke Dinda have been in good domestic form and will hope to replicate that in the IPL as well.
PREDICTED RPS XI: Rahane, Agarwal, Du Plessis, Smith, MS Dhoni (wk), Stokes, Aparajith, Bhatia, Dinda, Thakur, Zampa.
MI SQUAD:
Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah, Jos Buttler, Shreyas Gopal, Krishnappa Gowtham, Asela Gunaratne, Harbhajan Singh Mitchell Johnson, Kulwant Khejroliya , Siddhesh Lad, Mitchell McClenaghan, Lasith Malinga, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Parthiv Patel (W), Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Punia, Nitish Rana, Ambati Rayudu, Jitesh Sharma, Karn Sharma, Lendl Simmons, Tim Southee, Jagadeesha Suchith, Saurabh Tiwary, Vinay Kumar
Two-time champions Mumbai Indians did not qualify for the IPl play-offs last term.
Captain Rohit Sharma, who has recovered from a thigh injury, will look to continue his rich IPL form and lead from the front.
While India’s uncapped Krunal Pandya was the find of the tournament for MI last year, his younger brother Hardik is now a regular in the national side’s limited overs teams. Indian veteran Harbhajan Singh will be MI’s first choice spinner although the older Pandya can provide able support with his left-arm spin.
MI will be bolstered by the return of yorker specialist Lasith Malinga, who will have a good company in Jasprit Bumrah and Tim Southee. Since Malinga is away on National duty, it will be interesting to see if Mitchell Johnson gets a look in. Mumbai veterans Keiron Pollard and Ambati Rayudu are always in MI’s first choice playing XI as Parthiv Patel and Jos Buttler will look to provide the firepower at the top.
PREDICTED MI XI: Rohit (c), Parthiv (wk), K Pandya, Buttler, Rayudu, Pollard, H Pandya, Harbhajan, Southee, Johnson, Bumrah.
FORM
(Last five matches – with latest match first)
RPSG: W W L L L
MI: L W L L W
MATCH PREDICTION
MI to win.