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Rising Pune Supergiants' inaugural IPL season got off to the perfect start with a thumping win over defending champions Mumbai Indians in the tournament opener. Supergiants have lost two games since, and require a victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore to revive their campaign.

Royal Challengers, who also won their first game before losing two consecutively, have depended on a strong top order to mask their bowling fragility. Chris Gayle, who did not feature against Mumbai Indians, having flown to Jamaica to be with his partner for the birth of their first child, will miss this game too. Till Gayle returns, Royal Challengers could persist with KL Rahul opening and Travis Head at No. 5.

Royal Challengers have failed to find a settled bowling combination. Barring Harshal Patel, no other specialist bowler has played all three games. West Indies legspinner Samuel Badree has been ruled out of the tournament after failing to recover from an injured shoulder, and has been replaced by the South African chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi.

Supergiants haven't found their best combination either. It isn't often that MS Dhoni makes wholesale changes after two matches - Supergiants made three against Kings XI Punjab, including drafting in Thisara Perera and Irfan Pathan for Mitchell Marsh and Rajat Bhatia as like-for-like replacements. The batting has been held together by Faf du Plessis' consistency (170 runs in three matches), but a misfiring middle order has been shown up. Supergiants have the personnel, but need to perform consistently to bid for a playoffs spot.

Form guide

Rising Pune Supergiants: LLW (most recent matches first)
Royal Challengers Bangalore: LLW

In the spotlight

Ajinkya Rahane is a vital cog in Supergiants' batting order. He started the season with an unbeaten 66 against Mumbai, but has scored only 30 runs over his next two games. A solid start could help an unsettled middle order come into its own.

Shane Watson was the most expensive purchase at the IPL auction (INR 9.5 crores), and his all-round abilities have made a telling difference to the Royal Challengers line-up. He has bowled four overs in all games, taken four wickets, and scored 57 runs at a strike rate of 154.05. With his experience, he will be asked to bowl at crunch times and provide Royal Challengers with impetus towards the end with the bat.

Team news

Supergiants brought in Perera and Pathan against Kings XI, but neither enjoyed a productive game. Dhoni may be forced to make changes again.

Rising Pune Supergiants (probable): 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Steven Smith, 5 MS Dhoni (capt, wk), 6 Mitchell Marsh/Albie Morkel/Thisara Perera, 7 Rajat Bhatia/Irfan Pathan, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Ankit Sharma, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 M Ashwin

Royal Challengers made six changes for the match against Mumbai. Head and Rahul's cameos mean they are likely to retain their place. Iqbal Abdullah picked up three wickets, but conceded 40 off his four overs. Will Yuzvendra Chahal return?

Royal Challengers Bangalore (probable) 1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 KL Rahul, 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Shane Watson, 5 Travis Head, 6 Sarfaraz Khan, 7 Stuart Binny, 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Kane Richardson, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal/Iqbal Abdullah, 11 Varun Aaron/S Aravind

Pitch and conditions

In the last T20 that Pune hosted, India were bowled out for 101 on a seaming deck against Sri Lanka. The pitch may not be as green as that night, but could retain its seam-friendly nature. There is no rain forecast.

Stats and trivia

    In 15 innings since the start of 2016, MS Dhoni has scored 190 runs at an average of 47.30, with a highest score of 30. He has only been dismissed four times.
    In the same period, Virat Kohli has scored 812 runs in 15 innings with an average of 101.50.

 David Warner's third half-century of the season paved the way for Sunrisers Hyderabad's ten-wicket win over Gujarat Lions in Rajkot. Warner, who slammed 74 off 48, combined with Shikhar Dhawan, who struck a fifty of his own, for an unbroken 137-run opening partnership after his bowlers, led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar's 4 for 29, kept Lions to 135 for 8.

Warner began the chase with two fours off Dale Steyn, who was playing his first match of this IPL, and kicked into high gear with three fours off Praveen Kumar in the fourth over. Spin didn't stem the run-flow either as Warner cut and pulled Suresh Raina to the boundary. The Sunrisers captain brought up his half-century in 29 balls, by which time his team needed less than run-a-ball for victory.

Dhawan, at the other end, took the opportunity to bide his time and recover some of his form. He wasn't always fluent, but a paddle sweep off Dwayne Bravo in the 12th over changed that. At one point 25 off 24, Dhawan completed his half-century in 40 balls and though he didn't indulge in much celebration, he had to a couple of balls later. Warner sealed the victory with six overs to spare and time was ripe for a twirl of the 'tache.

That Lions were tied down, despite Raina's 75 off 51, was Bhuvneshwar's doing. He swung the new ball handsomely, as Aaron Finch found out in the first over when his stumps were splayed by an indipper, and when he couldn't get movement through the air, his mixture of slower balls were hard to put away on a large outfield. Bhuvneshwar took three wickets in the final over of the Lions innings, including Raina's, to cap Sunrisers' strong comeback.

Mustafizur Rahman played a hand in Lions' slowdown as well. He was saved for the final six overs again and still gave away only one boundary - when Warner misfielded at long-on. The Bangladesh seamer finished with 1 for 19, the mystery of his cutters no closer to being solved. Sunrisers also benefited from part-time offspinner Deepak Hooda and left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma rushing through five overs and picking up two wickets.

Lions, who had raced to 50 for 1 in the Powerplay, would have been disappointed that they could only manage 85 runs in the remaining 14 overs.

Raina eased his way back to form, scoring his first T20 fifty in 31 innings. On display were his typical shots: lofted drives with the bent knee, firm pushes through cover and wristy flicks off the pads. But the other Lions batsmen struggled for timing. McCullum mis-hit a slog sweep to deep midwicket and fell for 18 off 17 balls, Dinesh Karthik was dismissed for 8 off a full toss and Dwayne Bravo, also on 8, picked out deep square leg after being deceived by a slower ball. Bhuvneshwar's triple-strike in the final over meant Lions lost seven wickets for 79 runs, and slipped to their first defeat.

 Dharamsala to host three matches

Three of Kings XI Punjab's home matches that were earlier scheduled in Nagpur will now be played in Dharamsala. The franchise shifted the games to Dharamsala following a Bombay High Court ruling last week that ordered all matches after April 30 to be moved out of Maharashtra due to a severe state-wide drought.

Kings XI were originally scheduled to play Delhi Daredevils, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Nagpur between May 7 and 15. The High Court, however, moved out matches in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur in May due to the water crisis. The ruling was in response to a Public Interest Litigation by a Hyderabad-based NGO that questioned the hosting of IPL games while Maharashtra suffered one its worst droughts.

Dhawan's form not a concern, says Laxman

VVS Laxman, the Sunrisers Hyderabad mentor, has dismissed concerns surrounding the form of Shikhar Dhawan. Dhawan, who has endured a lean patch, hasn't registered a single double-digit score, totalling just 16 runs in three innings in IPL 2016.

"Shikhar's form is not a worry for Sunrisers," Laxman said on Wednesday. "He is a gifted player, and when he plays well, he finishes off the match. He is a match-winning player."

Sunrisers, however, have had a few positives on the bowling front, most notably Mustafizur Rahman, the Bangladesh left-arm seamer. Mustafizur had returns of 2 for 26 in four overs in Sunrisers' opening match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, where the hosts blasted 227 for 4, and was the only bowler with an economy rate of under seven. He took 1 for 32 against Mumbai Indians to help set up Sunrisers' seven-wicket win, their first of the tournament.

"He (Mustafizur) is a smart bowler. He is exceptionally talented, he has a plenty of variations with the new and old ball, and more important, he is very consistent," Laxman said.

Sunrisers' batting hasn't exactly fired in unison and David Warner has done much of the heavy lifting. Laxman commended the captain even as he called on the rest to step up. "Warner has been in fantastic form and he played many match-winning knocks, but other batsmen, particularly domestic players coming in the middle order need to contribute more with the bat," Laxman said. "If the openers and middle order manage to click, then the team certainly enjoys a comfortable position."

Laxman also had a word of appreciation for Bhuvneshwar Kumar, left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma and left-arm medium pacer Barinder Sran for their contributions to the win against Mumbai Indians. Laxman put the defeats in the first two matches down to improper execution of plans and exuded confidence ahead of Thursday's clash against Gujarat Lions, who are undefeated in the competition.

 Rohit Sharma returned to a batting position that has brought him considerable success to thwart Royal Challengers Bangalore on a flat Wankhede deck, helping Mumbai Indians revive their campaign with a six-wicket win. Promoting himself to open, Rohit made a 44-ball 62 as Mumbai overhauled Royal Challengers' 170 for 7 with 12 balls to spare.

The manner in which he slid back to direct the ball with his wrists behind point, used his powerful forearms to flick, and danced down the track to pull the ball into the stands with minimum effort showed he was in fine touch. He took charge of the chase along with Ambati Rayudu, who was anything but elegant yet equally effective during his 31.

The second-wicket stand of 76 in 55 balls laid the platform for Mumbai's chase, before Iqbal Abdulla dismissed Rayudu and Rohit in quick succession, both to slogs. Mumbai were 109 for 3 then, needing 62 off seven overs - well on track as dew took effect. Jos Buttler and Kieron Pollard, who replaced Martin Guptill, hit five sixes between them in a partnership of 31 off 2.4 overs. While Buttler was out for 28, Pollard remained unbeaten on 40 off 19 balls as Mumbai recorded their second win in five matches.

Halfway into the first innings, Mumbai, who opted to bowl, were staring at a 200-plus target as Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers feasted on some friendly bowling in a 59-run stand, before Krunal Pandya removed both in the same over.

Shane Watson fell soon after, but Travis Head, on IPL debut, and Sarfaraz Khan lifted Royal Challengers from 99 for 4 to 170 for 7.

Frenetic action filled the first 20 minutes of the game. KL Rahul - opening in place of Chris Gayle who was away on paternity leave - was put through a short-ball test by Mitchell McClenaghan, who hit him on the helmet with a bouncer that jagged into him off the pitch. After the early jitters, Rahul ramped and slapped his way to 23 before being caught at slip. Kohli and de Villiers then counterpunched before RCB lost three wickets in the space of 3.1 overs, while adding only eight runs to their score.

Head took his time to settle in, the nervousness showing as he pushed and prodded his way through nine balls before swatting Hardik Pandya for six over deep square leg in the 15th over. Sarfaraz showed there is more to his game than scoops and paddles as he milked the spinners, before clubbing two successive sixes off Jasprit Bumrah in the final over.

Mumbai lost Parthiv Patel in the second over of the chase, but Varun Aaron's third over, which went for 19, brought them back on track. Once Royal Challengers' uncapped Indian bowlers were summoned, a game that was marginally tilted in Mumbai's favour turned decisively their way. Abdulla's wickets injected a touch of excitement, but Pollard and Buttler snuffed out any possibility of a close finish.