Pune eye play-off spot against Delhi

New Delhi, May 11: Rising Pune Supergiant will aim to secure a play-off spot while Delhi Daredevils will only have pride to play for when they meet in their Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Friday.

Sitting at the third spot with eight wins and four losses, Pune are currently on 16 points. They will like to continue their form and will be eager to bag two crucial points from this tie which will put them at the joint top spot with Mumbai Indians and gurantee them a berth in the knock-out stage.

Delhi, on the other hand, are languishing at the bottom of the IPL standings and are already out of contention for the play-offs as they only maged to have five wins in 12 league matches so far.

Delhi have once again been hugely inconsistent this season. Their bowling line-up, on paper at least, is one of the strongest in the IPL but has failed to step up to the occasion.

The batting has also been inconsistent as their top and middle-order batsmen failed to click in unison.

Looking to salvaging some pride, the Zaheer Khan-led side, however, can take some positives ahead of the match as they defeated Gujarat Lions by two wickets in a thriller contest on Wednesday.

Chasing a mammoth 196, Delhi lost half their side for 105 runs before Shreyas Iyer (96) and Australian Pat Cummins’ cameo (24 off 13 balls) guided the visitors to the win.

Pune, meanwhile, will aim to carry on their winning momentum.

Young opening batsman Rahul Tripathi, who performed consistently throughout the tourment, has emerged as the find of the tourment for the Pune side.

The visitors will be hoping for another good performance from the Maharashtra right-hander along side skipper Steve Smith, Manoj Tiwary, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ben Stokes.

Pune’s main concern will be the form of the other opener Ajinkya Rahane, who has failed to compliment the hard-hitting Tripathi at the top.

The bowlers are also in good form. Jaidev Udkat, who returned with figures of 5/30 from his four overs, including the hat-trick in the fil over against Sunrisers Hyderabad, will also boost the bowling line-up. IANS