Preview: Pune vs Delhi

April 11 (CRICKETNMORE) - Delhi Daredevils will like to open their accounts in points table when they take on Rising Pune Supergiant in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017 match at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Tuesday.

Current Status in IPL 2017

Rising Pune Supergiant: Matches - 2, Won - 1, Lost - 1

Delhi Daredevils: Matches - 1, Won - 0, Lost - 1

Pune who had won their opening match against Mumbai Indians but lost the second match to Kings XI Punjab. Delhi, on the other hand lost their maiden tie against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 15 runs.

Head to Head

The two teams have so far met on two occasions and Pune won the match on both occasions.

Delhi Daredevils

The Daredevils lacked the spark in their batting having failed to chase 158 against RCB. The batting will revolve around Rishabh Pant, Aditya Tare, Karun Nair and Sanju Samson and allrounders Carlos Brathwaite and Chris Morris.

However, Delhi's bowling looks strong. Led by the experienced Zaheer Khan, Daredevils bowlers were right on their money against RCB. Both Zaheer (2/31), Morris (3/21) and Pat Cummins (1/29) were impressive with the new ball, while domestic season's highest wicket taker, left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem (1/13) shone in the middle overs. With South African quick Kasigo Rabada and Mohammed Shami warming the bench, the side looks a formidable unit against any opposition.

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IPL 2017 Special Photo Galllery

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Rising Pune Supergiant:

The hosts will bank on their batting prowess to take them home. With in-form skipper Steve Smith, Ajinkya Rahane, Ben Stokes, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Manoj Tiwary, Pune's batting is considered the strongest aspect.

Pune's bowling is an area of concern. Only South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir is looking in good form. The main concern will be the opening and the death overs with the likes of Ashoke Dinda, Daniel Christian and Stokes (the costliest buy of this year's IPL), being hammered all over the park.

Expected Playing XI

 

Expected Playing XI

Rising Pune Supergiant: Ajinkya Rahane, Mayank Agarwal/Faf du Plessis, Steven Smith (capt), Ben Stokes, MS Dhoni (wk), Manoj Tiwary, Rajat Bhatia, Dan Christian/Shardul Thakur, Rahul Chahar, Imran Tahir, Ishwar Pandey 

Delhi Daredevils: Aditya Tare, Sam Billings, Karun Nair, Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant (wk), Chris Morris, Carlos Brathwaite/Corey Anderson, Pat Cummins,  Amit Mishra/Jayant Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem,  Zaheer Khan (capt)

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Sahir