Tahir key against team that released him
Match facts
Rising Pune Supergiant v Delhi Daredevils
Pune, April 11, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)
Head-to-head
The teams have met twice and Rising Pune won both games chasing. They won the first one in Delhi by seven wickets, and the second by being 19 runs ahead of the D/L par score when rain interrupted a chase of 121 in Vizag.
In the news
Neither team has immediate, short-term injury concerns. Sri Lanka allrounder Angelo Mathews joined the Daredevils squad for training on the eve of the match, but it isn't certain if he is available for selection. Earlier this month, Sri Lanka cricket manager Asanka Gurusinha had said it was unlikely Mathews would be 100% fit for the start of the IPL.
Daredevils' batting took a hit when Quinton De Kock's injury was followed by JP Duminy's withdrawal from the IPL. Their response was to sign Australian fast bowler Ben Hilfenhaus as a replacement, despite the seemingly endless list of bowling options available to them - Mohammed Shami, Kagiso Rabada, M Ashwin and Jayant Yadav make up only half of the bowlers they have in reserve.
Rishabh Pant's gutsy innings against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the face of personal grief drew praise from team-mate Chris Morris, who said the youngster is going to be a big player for India in the future. While Morris' hypothesis will take time to test, Daredevils' top-order performance against RCB made it all but certain that Pant is going to be their biggest player this season.
Imran Tahir's stoic declaration that his job was to 'come and perform' has been the only reassurance for Rising Pune's bowling attack. He will also be keen to prove a point against the team that did not play him much last season, and then released him.
Ben Stokes' explosive batting against Kings XI Punjab on Saturday did not improve his bowling form, and Dan Christian's went for 24 in two overs. Ashok Dinda has had a difficult start to the season as well, which leaves Rising Pune with an unsettled attack.
The likely XIs
Rising Pune Supergiant: 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Mayank Agarwal/Faf du Plessis, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Ben Stokes, 5 MS Dhoni (wk), 6 Manoj Tiwary, 7 Rajat Bhatia, 8 Dan Christian/Shardul Thakur, 9 Rahul Chahar, 10 Imran Tahir, 11 Ashok Dinda/Ishwar Pandey
Delhi Daredevils: 1 Aditya Tare, 2 Sam Billings, 3 Karun Nair, 4 Sanju Samson, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Chris Morris, 7 Carlos Brathwaite/Corey Anderson, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Amit Mishra/Jayant Yadav, 10 Shahbaz Nadeem, 11 Zaheer Khan (capt)
Stats that matter
- The last four matches at the venue have all been won by the chasing side, which is congruent to Rising Pune's record of never having won a game after batting first.
- Since winning five of their first seven matches last season, Delhi Daredevils have lost six of their last eight.
- MS Dhoni has made three single-digit scores in his last six innings for Rising Pune, including two innings of at least 10 balls where his strike rate was below 50.
- Ajinkya Rahane averages 77.75 against Delhi Daredevils, with six fifties in 13 innings. They have only managed to dismiss him once inside a Powerplay.
- Steven Smith has 32 runs off nine balls against Shahbaz Nadeem, his highest strike-rate against any bowler in the IPL. His strike rate against Amit Mishra, however, is 72 (18 off 25 balls), his lowest against any bowler in the IPL.
- Chris Morris had the best economy in the slog overs last season among all bowlers who bowled more than ten overs - 7.31. In Daredevils' previous game against RCB, Morris gave away a combined nine runs in the 18th and 20th overs, of which eight were dot balls.
- Rishabh Pant has 11 runs from four innings when his team bats first in the IPL, as opposed to scores of 20, 69, 4*, 39*, 23, 32 and 57 when they chase.
- Karun Nair hasn't scored more than thirty in his 12 innings across formats after his Test triple-century against England.
- Imran Tahir has taken five wickets in eight overs, with an economy of 7.12; all other Rising Pune bowlers have taken a combined six wickets in 31 overs, at an economy of 9.29