Rajasthan Royals are all set to take on Pune warriors at Subrata Ray Sahara Stadium, Pune. Rajasthan would be looking to get the hat-trick of wins with their pace battery of S Sreesanth, Kevon Cooper and Siddharth Trivedi whereas Pune would be relying on Steve Smith and Yuvraj Singh who are a power-house of all-round skills.
Here we bring to you the players who can make a significant difference in the outcome of the match.
Pune Warriors (PW)
Yuvraj Singh: Yuvi will be back in the squad after making a recovery from minor back-problem. He wasn’t much effective with the bat in the first match but he would be looking for a turnaround this time. His bowling did fetch him wicket in the first match but it’s the batting where the real worries lie.
Steve Smith: Smith is the only player who can add strength to their batting and Angelo Mathews had failed to realize that. Picking up Tirumalasetti Suman who had hardly played IPL was the worst decision that Mathews has taken till now. Being the highest run-scorer for Pune last season, Smith deserves the chance to be in the team more than anybody else.
Robin Uthappa: Uthappa needs to stay at the crease for at least first eight overs so that he can give Pune the much-needed foundation before the big-hitters take the centre stage. He needs to work on his shot selection and once he gets that right, he could prove to be a dangerous customer.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar: He needs to be amongst the wickets if Pune Warriors are looking for the place of semis. He was decent in the last match and as other bowlers he was under-used too. He was smashed for 14 runs by Adam Gilchrist in his first over but he did an impressive come back in the next over and gave away just two runs.
Abhishek Nayar: Nayar is batting at number seven which has never been his usual position. Even for Mumbai Indians till the last season, he used to come at number four or five. He has that temperament to bat till the last and accelerate the scoring rate in the death overs. Mathews should take a tough call of making him bat up the order and bring Marlon Samuels down the order.
Rajasthan Royals
Rahul Dravid: Rahul Dravid has been looking in great touch this season and his captaincy has led the Rajasthan Royals to their second victory to this season. He has marshalled his resources very well and as a result, despite not having big names in his team, Rajasthan have emerged as a unit who would fight till the last.
Kevon Cooper: Cooper has bowled some exceptional overs and is the highest wicket taker for Rajasthan this season. He has picked up six wickets in the two matches and is looking in a great shape to dismantle the Pune Warriors batting line-up which looks very fragile at the moment.
S Sreesanth: Sreesanth can get those early breakthroughs that are very much needed at the beginning. His pace has tested the few quality batsmen till now and he is looking to be amongst the wickets.
Brad Hodge: Brad Hodge played a brilliant knock of 46 runs in the last match and took his side to 143. His ability to bat till the final overs of the innings makes him a great investment lower down the order. He can be more dangerous on the wicket of Pune where ball will not get that awkward bounce to disturb him.
Stuart Binny: Binny played a great cameo against Delhi Daredevils where he scored 40 runs off just 20 balls. In the last match, he scored three boundaries in his innings of 14 runs. During the middle overs of the innings, he looks to be a great asset to Rajasthan.
Siddharth Trivedi: Trivedi bowled brilliantly in the last match and ended up with the impressive figures of 3/23 against KKR. His pace and ability to extract bounce from the pitch gives always keep batsmen on toes.
By Amit Chopra
Indian Sports News Network