Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) have lost six out of eight matches they have played in IPL 2016. That is something we do not get to see when someone as good as MS Dhoni is at the helm of the team.
RPS still have a chance to make it to IPL 2016 Playoffs. For this, they will have to pull up their socks and win all of their remaining matches. But the way Dhoni & co. have played in IPL 2016, playoffs seems to be a far-fetched idea.
With just one win from their last five matches, the pressure will be clearly on the visitors when they will take on the upbeat Delhi Daredevils (DD) at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Daredevils have won four out of their last five matches and will look to jump up to the top spot in IPL 2016 points table. This indeed has been an incredible turnaround for DD.
With Rahul Dravid as the mentor, the Delhi boys have turned on the heat in IPL 2016. They are looking dangerous like never before and are definitely one of the contenders of the IPL 2016 Playoff spot.
The Supergiants have been taking blows right from the start of IPL 2016. Three of their star recruits – Steve Smith, Kevin Pietersen and Mitchell Marsh — have gone back home after getting injured during the ongoing edition of the IPL.
The Supergiants had some respite after they named a couple of replacements in the form of Usman Khawaja and George Bailey. Both these players remained unsold at the IPL 2016 player auction earlier this year.
The Supergiants have not tried Adam Zampa as yet. Given the type of wicket Kotla has, Zampa can be very handy in such conditions. In that case Scott Boland will have to make way for the Aussie youngster, who was impressive during the ICC World T20 2016.
The Daredevils hardly have any reason to make a change to their playing XI. Going by Zaheer Khan's instincts, he is likely to stick to the same XI that comprehensively defeated Gujarat Lions in their last game.
Expected Playing XI:
Delhi Daredevils: Rishabh Pant, Quinton de Kock (wk), Sanju Samson, Karun Nair, Sam Billings, JP Duminy, Chris Morris, Amit Mishra, Mohammed Shami, Zaheer Khan (C), Shahbaz Nadeem.
Rising Pune Supergiants: Usman Khawaja, Ajinkya Rahane, Saurabh Tiwary, George Bailey, MS Dhoni (C & wk), Thisara Perera, Rajat Bhatia, Ravichandran Ashwin, Murugan Ashwin, Adam Zampa, Ashok Dinda.
