Rising Pune Supergiant host defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad in their sixth match of 2017 Indian Premier League at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Saturday.
The hosts are heading into today's afternoon game on the back of snapping their three-match losing streak by beating Royal Challengers Bangalore on the road on 16 April. On the other hand, Sunrisers edged past Delhi Daredevils by 15 runs in their home game on Wednesday.
The hosts, like last year, have been inconsistent so far with only two wins from five games and are sitting at the bottom of the league table with only four points. However, the 27-run win over Virat Kohli's men last Sunday should have boosted the morale of the team and a six-day break after the game should have helped them assess their strategies.
While the poor form of MS Dhoni has been a major concern for the team, skipper Steve Smith would have been happy with the way Indian youngsters Manoj Tiwary, Rahul Tripathi, Shardul Thakur and Jaydev Unadkat have been performing.
On the other hand, all four of Sunrisers win this season have come at home and they will be hoping to break the trend with a win in today's game, which is also their third in six days. Kane Williamson's 51-ball 89 has boosted the firepower in the team's middle-order, which also has Yuvraj Singh and Moises Henriques.
With Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan picking up wickets at will early in the season, Sunrisers will start as favourite against the struggling Supergiant.
Team News
RPS
Possible XI: Smith (c), Rahane, Tripathi, Tiwary, Dhoni (wk), Stokes, Christian, Thakur, Unadkat, R Chahar, Tahir
SRH
Possible XI: Warner (c), Dhawan, Williamson, Yuvraj, Henriques, Hooda, Ojha (wk), Kumar, Rashid, Siraj, Kaul
