It will be a battle for survival for struggling Rising Pune Supergiants when they lock horns with formidable title-contenders Sunrisers Hyderabad in Tuesday's Indian Premier League match in Visakhapatnam.
With just three victories from 10 games, Pune is placed at a lowly sixth in the points table, while a dominant Hyderabad, with six wins and three losses, are in second spot.
It's been a demoralising journey so far for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men, having only beaten Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Daredevils and failed to trouble the other teams, losing four matches at their home ground in Pune.
Unfortunately for Pune, they have been left depleted after injuries ruled Faf du Plessis, Kevin Pietersen, Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh out of the tournament.
Though Pakistan-born Australian batsman Usman Khawaja and former Aussie captain George Bailey joined the side, they haven't been able to make much of a difference so far and the Sanjeev Goenka-owned team will desperately need to put on a miraculous performance to keep themselves afloat.
The Supergiants have been affected by the lack of quality bowlers who can restrict opponents. None of their bowlers figure in the top 15 wicket-takers' list this season.
Among their batsmen, Ajinkya Rahane has been shouldering most of the responsibility, scoring 417 runs so far, making him the third-highest run-getter in the tournament this season.
With the team needing to win every match from here on to stay in the hunt, Dhoni and his boys know very well that any slip up now can dent their chances of making it to the play-offs.
Hyderabad, on the other hand, have been riding on a wave of success, their latest win being against two-time winners and defending champions Mumbai Indians by 85 runs on Sunday.
The Sunrisers have been driven by in-form skipper David Warner, who is placed at second in the top-scorers’ list with 458 runs, having struck five fifties so far.
Shikhar Dhawan too has taken the responsibility and complemented his captain in the opening slot.
Australian all-rounder Moises Henriques too has proven to be an important cog in Sunrisers' wheel with some crucial contributions.
Having returned to the side after recovering from an ankle injury, Yuvraj Singh too is slowly getting into the groove.
Hyderabad's bowling unit too has worked like a well-oiled machine with their formidable pace battery of Ashsish Nehra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Bangladesh's Mustafizur Rahman and Barinder Sran doing a splendid job for the team.
Teams:
Rising Pune Supergiants: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Ankit Sharma, Baba Aparajith, Murugan Ashwin, Ravichandran Ashwin, George Bailey, Ankush Bains, Rajat Bhatia, Scott Boland, Deepak Chahar, Ashok Dinda, Peter Handscombe, usman Khawaja, Albie Morkel, Ishwar Pandey, Irfan Pathan, Thisara Perera, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishant Sharma, RP Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Adam Zampa.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (captain), Ashish Reddy, Ricky Bhui, Bipul Sharma, Trent Boult, Ben Cutting, Shikhar Dhawan, Moises Henriques, Deepak Hooda, Siddarth Kaul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhimanyu Midtun, Eoin Morgan, Mustafizur Rahman, Ashish Mehra, Naman Ojha, Vijay Shanker, Karn Sharma, Barinder Sran, T Suman, Aditya Tare, Kane Williamson, Yuvraj Singh.
