CRICKET ANALYSIS IPL 10

A buoyant Rising Pune Supergiant side led by Steve Smith host a confident Kolkata Knight Rider side at MCA stadium, Pune tomorrow. The Knight Riders would look to retain the top spot in the IPL table after a victory with their huge net run-rate which is more than the current table-toppers Mumbai Indians.

Otherwise , the Rising Pune Supergiant is the in-form team in the IPL presently with three consecutive wins. They toppled the team to beat this season, i.e. Mumbai Indians, twice, once at home and once away. Hence, RPS has slowly crept up the IPL table ladder into the fourth position with 8 points in seven matches with Sunrisers Hyderabad who have a better net run rate.

There have been a lot of positives for the Supergiant squad lately with their recent wins. Ajinkya Rahane and Rahul Tripathy have given decent starts almost every time. RPS think tank would also be uplifted with the all-round contribution from Ben Stokes in the recent matches.

Manoj Tiwary has been their saviour every time the team looked for his services lower down the order. The bowling unit looks settled as well with the addition of Jaydev Unadkat and Shardul Thakur. With the kind of personnel sitting out in the dressing room for the Rising Pune Supergiant, one can easily vouch for the fact that they would go deep into the tournament.

Openers (Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Tripathy)

Ajinkya Rahane looked fluent in all the innings he has played until now. The classy right-hander is due for a big score as he would like to convert his starts into something substantial that would put his team in a dominating position.

Tripathy has been the find of the tournament for the RPS side as he has contributed in every innings he has played. He has amassed as 178 runs in five matches at an average of 35.8 and more importantly at a strike rate of 152.3

Middle Order (Steve Smith, Faf du Plessis, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Manoj Tiwary)

Steve Smith, who has always looked like scoring a big one, would like to cash in on another opportunity tomorrow and lay the platform for the likes of Stokes and Dhoni to play their natural game lower down the order.

Smith has missed out in the last few innings after getting starts and threatening to take the game away from the opposition. Having said that, there have been instances of complete shift of momentum after his wicket.

Faf du Plessis is too good a player to sit out, warming the benches. The Proteas skipper should be brought in for Australian Daniel Christian. Even though he does not bowl, his presence in the lineup completely changes the quality of the batting line-up of the side. Apart from that, Christian bowled only a single over in the last match, completing the quota of Shardul Thakur’s overs.

Ben Stokes would dearly want to connect a few from the middle of the bat against the Knight Riders. He missed out in the previous match against the Mumbai Indians, but the Knight Riders would be wary of his prowess with the bat. Any bowlers’ nightmare would be bowling to Stokes and Dhoni in tandem, with their left-hand right-hand combination.

Dhoni after a mild start fired it up with a half century but failed to make it count in the previous game and was bowled cheap in a single digit score, though the team won the wicketkeeper-batsman would want to make a strong contribution with the bat himself.

RPS should be thankful fo the services of Manoj Tiwary until now in the tournament. With wickets falling around him every time, he has provided the necessary impetus during the end of the innings, which placed his team in a competitive position.

All Rounder (Ben Stokes, Washington Sundar)

Ben Stokes’ contribution with the ball has been unmatchable. He bowled a brilliant penultimate over which set up the last over for Unadkat to bowl without much pressure. He also clinched a couple of key wickets. The thing that makes this man special is the fact that if he does not get you with the bat, he will definitely get you with the ball.

Washington Sundar’s presence in the side has changed the balance to an extent. He can hit a few lusty blows down the order while bowling his entire quota of four overs, which would prove necessary in the absence of Christian.

Bowlers (Jaydev Unadkat, Imran Tahir, Shardul Thakur)

Smith would finally be relieved to find their perfect bowling combination with Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir and Jaydev Unadkat featuring in the lineup. Unadkat bowled the all important final over of the last match and secured a victory for his side. He also claimed a couple of wickets in the process that of Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya.

Tahir has constantly chipped in with wickets regularly. He has also been economical in the process. Shardul Thakur threatened the batsmen with his raw pace and bounce along with early movement that might be on offer.

Overall, the bowling unit seems compact with Sundar, Stokes, Thakur, Tahir and Unadkat bowling their quota of overs. However, Smith would have a few headaches if one of these bowlers have a bad day. In that case Tiwary’s leg-spin or even he could himself bowl an over or two.