IPL 2017, Rising Pune Supergiants vs Mumbai Indians: Match Preview

Pune: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the centrepiece of Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS), will play his first game in the Indian Premiere League (IPL) as non-captain when his side, under new skipper Steve Smith, will take on Mumbai Indians at Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium here on Thursday.

Mahi, who recently resigned as the skipper of India's limited over side, has played all his 143 IPL matches as the captain of a side. He, however, would be a relaxed man with no pressure of leading his side in the tenth season of Indian Premier League (IPL 10).

On the batting front, RPS looks a very balanced side with the presence of world-class batsmen like Steve Smith, Ajinkya Rahane, Faf du Plessis, MS Dhoni and Ben Stokes. Australian left-hand batsman Usman Khawaja may also get a chance of opening the innings for RPS following his recent success in the T20 format.

RPS has strengthened its bowling unit by adding South African spinner Imran Tahir along with its previous season's star bowler Adam Zampa. It, however, may be tough for them to fulfil the void created due to Ravichandran Ashwin's injury. The bowling department has surely got a boost by the inclusion of English all-rounder Ben Stokes, who is known of his variations to trouble the batsmen during slog overs.

On the other hand, Mumbai Indians are surely going to miss Sri Lankan right-arm speedster Lasith Maling who has been their biggest asset during the death overs in the previous seasons. The Lankan yorker-specialist is currently busy in the series against Bangladesh.

In Malinga's absence, a lot will depend on Indian death-over specialist Jasprit Bumrah, who will be supported by Mitchell Johnson, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell McClenaghan and Hardik Pandya.

The Mumbai batting has always been their key asset due to the presence of explosive yet sensible batsmen like captain Rohit Sharma, Lendl Simmons, Ambati Rayudu, Kieron Pollard and Jos Buttler. The tenth season of Indian Premier League (IPL) is, however, going to be crucial for Hardik and Krunal Pandya as they will get a chance to stake their claim for place in team India for the upcoming Champions Trophy.

According to the pitch analysts, the wicket will remain batting friendly and toss winning skipper will look to bowl first. It may be mentioned that three of the previous four times, big targets were chased down successfully at this venue.

It may be recalled that Rising Pune Supergiants have lost all their four games at the MCA stadium, while Mumbai Indians emerged victorious in all three of their matches in Pune.

Also read: IPL 2017: Full schedule, teams, date and time

Teams:

Rising Pune Supergiants: Steven Smith (c), MS Dhoni (wk), Manoj Tiwary, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Dinda, Rajat Bhatia, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mayank Agarwal, Daniel Christian, Jaydev Unadkat, Ben Stokes, Usman Khawaja, Imran Tahir, Ankit Sharma, Faf du Plessis, Deepak Chahar, Baba Aparajith, Adam Zampa, Ishwar Pandey, Shardul Thakur, Rahul Tripathi, Ankush Bains, Saurabh Kumar, Lockie Ferguson, Jaskaran Singh, Milind Tandon, Rahul Chahar

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Parthiv Patel (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga, Mitchell Johnson, Lendl Simmons, Kieron Pollard, Tim Southee, Vinay Kumar, Saurabh Tiwary, Karn Sharma, Jos Buttler, Ambati Rayudu, Mitchell McClenaghan, Krishnappa Gowtham, Nitish Rana, Siddhesh Lad, Jasprit Bumrah, Nicholas Pooran, Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Gopal, Asela Gunaratne, Jitesh Sharma, Deepak Punia, Jagadeesha Suchith, Krunal Pandya, Kulwant Khejroliya