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IPL: Rising Pune Supergiant vs Delhi Daredevils Preview

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We take a look at Tuesday’s IPL clash between the Rising Pune Supergiant and the Delhi Daredevils. 

The Indian Premier League returns this Tuesday with an interesting clash between the Rising Pune Supergiant and the Delhi Daredevils.

Can the Supergiant get back to winning ways after their loss against the Kings XI or will the Daredevils claim their first win of the tournament in Pune? Let’s take a look:

RSP vs DD | Tuesday 11 April | Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune | 16:30

To Win Match
Supergiant 63/100 | Tie 35/1 | Daredevils 27/20

Rising Pune Supergiant
The Supergiant will be desperate to get back to winning ways following a rather disappointing showing over the weekend. The side from Pune went down by six wickets against the Kings XI at the Holkar Stadium and know that nothing less than a win will suffice.

There were one or two strange decisions from the Supergiant management over the weekend. Playing Dan Christian so low down the order is almost criminal. The veteran Australian has shown how good he is in that number 5 position over the years in the Big Bash.

If anything, though, I’d drop Christian altogether and bring in Faf du Plessis – especially if you’re going to be using Christian as a bowling all-rounder. The South African captain has an international T20 average of 37.63 striking at 132.97. You simply can’t leave the South African out of the side, especially after how well he did at the top of the order with Ajinkya Rahane last season.

Du Plessis only played six matches in 2016 and managed to plunder 206-runs at an average of 34.33. His attacking instincts at the top of the order along with Rahane’s ability to accumulate runs in the perfect ‘fire and ice’ combination that if successful, takes a lot of the pressure away from the likes of Steve Smith, Ben Stokes and MS Dhoni.

Bowling-wise, I don’t think the loss of Christian is the biggest issue. He conceded 24 off his two overs against the Kings XI. You can probably get 20 overs out of Ashok Dinda, Ben Stokes, Imran Tahir, Rajat Bhatia and Rahul Chahar.

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Delhi Daredevils
It’s difficult to see how the Daredevils could possibly win this. First of all, they’d need a massive performance from their bowling attack as I just don’t see their batting unit chasing down a score of 180+.

Their top order doesn’t look particularly threatening while failures from Chris Morris and Carlos Brathwaite could see this side bowled out for a sub-100 score. In fact, had it not been for Rishabh Pant, the side from Delhi would have been staring down the barrel of a massive defeat. The Indian wicket-keeper’s 36-ball 57 added a bit of gloss to the defeat with Sam Billings the only other player to make it into the twenties.

Their bowling left a lot to be desired too, with the normally reliable Amit Mishra conceding 32-runs in his two overs. Zaheer Khan and Chris Morris kept things tidy at the top of the innings while Pat Cummins and Shahbaz Nadeem were magnificent at first and second change and will likely keep Kagiso Rabada out of the side for the next match.

I’m not really sure what they can change going forward. Paddy Upton would have taken heart from his side’s performance against the Royal Challengers but will know that an entirely new challenge awaits in the form of a full-strength Supergiant.

Verdict: Rising Pune Supergiant 63/100
The men from Pune should win this game comfortably if the correct selections are made. Du Plessis has to come back into the side at the expense of Christian. Back the home side to claim their second win of the campaign against arguably the weakest side in the tournament. 

Written by Jason Dewey for @Hollywoodbets.net

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