22 April,2017 03:21 PM IST | | Shreeram Gokhale
With just a couple of wins from five games, Rising Pune Supergiant enter an important phase of the IPL 2017 season where they play four home games in the space of 10 days
Shardul Thakur
Pune: With just a couple of wins from five games, Rising Pune Supergiant enter an important phase of the IPL 2017 season where they play four home games in the space of 10 days. It begins with the afternoon game against an in-form Sunrisers Hyderabad unit on Saturday.
"It's an important period for us... these next five games. We play four at home and a trip to Mumbai, so it's a chance for us to hopefully play some good cricket and start making a move in the tournament," Supergiant skipper Steve Smith said yesterday.
The hosts, with bowling being a weak link, will have their task cut out against the likes of David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson and Co. "Their top three will come hard at us, for sure so it's up to individuals to tackle that. I think it's important for us as bowlers to go hard at them and be smart," Supergiant pacer Shardul Thakur said ahead of the team's practice session yesterday.
That, as Thakur himself would know, is easier said than done. The Pune track has so far produced totals of 184 (chased down) and 205 for sides batting first. And Saturday's game is expected to be no different. A 4 pm start takes out the grass cover and dew out of equation, and the pitch should remain good for batting throughout the game. The bowlers' best chance could be the first two-three overs where ball generally swings here, and that brings the likes of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar in the game.
Having comfortably defended a total of 161 against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Supergiant will head into today's game feeling slightly better about their bowling unit.
