Pune's inexperienced bowling attack, who are missing injured spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, would have its task cut out against a strong Mumbai Indians batting line-up.
With a new captain in place, Rising Pune Supergiants would look to make amends for a poor last season but have a tough opening battle at hand against two-time former champions Mumbai Indians in Pune on Thursday.
Pune decided to replace Mahendra Singh Dhoni with Steve Smith in the leadership role for the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League.
Under Dhoni, who has only played as skipper in the previous nine editions of the IPL, Pune could win just five matches in their debut season last year.
While Dhoni would be desperate to prove a point with his blazing blade -- a fitting reply for being stripped off captaincy, Smith will look to forget Australia's 1-2 loss against India in a draining Test series recently.
Dhoni might have led the now-defunct team Chennai Super Kings exceedingly well in the past but proving his worth as a player with the new franchise is a challenge that the former India captain will be more than keen to conquer.
However, all eyes would be on Ben Stokes, who was bought for a whopping Rs 14.5 crore, and his performance with both the bat and ball will be equated with his hefty pay package.
Smith and Faf du Plessis both got injured the last time but they would like to make amends in this edition of the cash-rich tournament.
The Supergiants will be banking on Ajinkya Rahane, who scored 480 runs at 43.63 with six fifties in the last edition, to come good with the bat again.
In the absence of star India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, Bengal pacer Ashok Dinda will spearhead the team's bowling.
The rather weak Pune bowling attack would have its task cut out against a strong Mumbai batting line-up.
Mumbai Indians captainr Rohit Sharma's form at the top will be important, while Kieron Pollard and Jos Buttler's big hits, and veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh's guile would decide how the team would fare in their opening game.
Two-time champions Mumbai are one team that has not been ravaged by injuries. This will allow them to pick from a talented pool of overseas and Indian cricketers, including Mitchell Johnson, Lendl Simmons, Lasith Malinga, who is expected to join the team on Thursday, Mitchell McClenaghan, Parthiv Patel and Jasprit Bumrah among others.
Having finished fifth in the previous season, Mumbai would not leave any stone unturned to make the top-four in this edition under new coach Mahela Jayawardene, who has taken over from highly successful Ricky Ponting.
Teams:
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), 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, Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Punia, Nitish Rana, Ambati Rayudu, Jitesh Sharma, Karn Sharma, Lendl Simmons, Tim Southee, Jagadeesha Suchith, Saurabh Tiwary, Vinay Kumar.
Rising Pune Supergiants: Steven Smith (captain), Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Ben Stokes, Faf du Plessis, Usman Khawaja, Manoj Tiwary, Mayank Agarwal, Ankit Sharma, Baba Aparajith, Ankush Bains, Rajat Bhatia, Deepak Chahar, Rahul Chahar, Daniel Christian, Ashok Dinda, Lockie Ferguson, Jaskaran Singh, Saurabh Kumar, Milind Tandon, Jaydev Unadkat, Adam Zampa.
