As we get to the business end of the 2017 Indian Premier League [IPL], things are heating up as teams not only fight for the playoff spots but also to finish in the top two which will give them two chances to qualify for the final.
Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rising Pune Supergiant are currently fourth and third respectively on the IPL table and the two teams will face each other on Saturday with the winner climbing into the top two for the time being at least.
Hyderabad are coming off a loss against Delhi Daredevils while Pune have won six out of their last seven matches.
Ahead of the match, we have the latest team news, start time and date, as well as how you can watch all the action from the UAE.
DATE, TIME, VENUE INFO
Date: May 6, 2017 (Saturday)
Time: 14:30 GST, 16:00 local time (IST), 10:30 GMT
Venue: Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad
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: Sport360.com
TEAM NEWS, SQUADS, PREDICTED XIs
SRH SQUAD: David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Moises Henriques, Mustafizur Rahman, Naman Ojha, Deepak Hooda, Ricky Bhui, Kane Williamson, Siddarth Kaul, Bipul Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Yuvraj Singh, Ben Cutting, Barinder Sran, Abhimanyu Mithun, Vijay Shankar, Tanmay Agarwal, Mohammad Nabi, Ekalavya Dwivedi, Rashid Khan, Pravin Tambe, Chris Jordan, Ben Laughlin, Mohammed Siraj.
The Sunrisers have a settled team and are unlikely to make any changes unless there are any fitness concerns.
Having said that, the overs bowled by the fifth bowler [Moises Henriques/Yuvraj Singh] cost them dearly in the last game, so they could be tempted to play an extra bowler.
PREDICTED SRH XI: Warner (c), Dhawan, Williamson, Yuvraj, Henriques, Hooda, Ojha (wk), Rashid, Bhuvneshwar, Kaul, Siraj.
RPS SQUAD: MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Faf du Plessis, Ashok Dinda, Ankush Bains, Rajat Bhatia, Ankit Sharma, Ishwar Pandey, Adam Zampa, Jaskaran Singh, Baba Aparajith, Deepak Chahar, Usman Khawaja, Mayank Agarwal, Ben Stokes, Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Kumar, Dan Christian, Milind Tandon, Rahul Tripathi, Manoj Tiwary, Lockie Ferguson, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir, Washington Sundar.
Pune have seen a sensational turnaround in their fortunes after losing three out of the first four matches this season.
Rahul Tripathi, at the top of the order, has been one of the main reasons for their sensational form with the 26-year-old registering seven 30+ scores in his last eight innings, including a superb 93 against Kolkata Knight Riders earlier this week.
PREDICTED RPS XI: Rahane, Tripathi, Smith (c), Tiwary, Stokes, Dhoni (wk), Christian, Sundar, Thakur, Unadkat, Tahir.
FORM
(Last five matches – with latest match first)
SRH: L W W N L
RPS: W W W L W
MATCH PREDICTION
This is a very tough match to predict, but with Hyderabad having won every home game so far this season, we are favouring David Warner and co. for the win.