IPL 2016: Rising Pune Supergiants, Gujarat Lions keen on sustaining winning form

NEW DELHI: It's the battle of the newbies. Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants, who opened their IPL 2016 campaign with a win each, will now go head to head. The two sides feature quite a few familiar faces from the suspended Chennai Super Kings and a total of six players, who played in the same team till the previous season, will now be in opposite camps. After nine long years, Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni will lead their separate teams when the two walk out for the toss.

The two sides know each other inside out. Although not much needs to be read into their respective wins, the kind of performance Dhoni's Supergiants dished out against the reigning defending champions Mumbai Indians, MS Dhoni has sent an early indication that he and his side look set to emulate CSK's success. The authority their bowlers showed in restricting MI to 121 and then the ease at which they chased it down was the perfect tonic needed in the initial stages of the tournament. What stood out was the fact that all six bowlers picked wickets against a side comprising high-profile batsmen.

Likewise, Gujarat Lions were ably supported by their batsmen to ease past Kings XI Punjab in the end. However, besides Dwayne Bravo, who once again proved his worth in the T20 format, the bowling remains ordinary. It's time Bravo's effort rubs on his fellow bowlers. Aaron Finch was in good touch but that Punjab bowlers were far from convincing made his job easy. Such formidable is their batting that even their No. 8 batsman, James Faulkner, can flex his muscles.

Venue: Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot Date: April 14, 2016 Time: 20:00 IST Weather: Warm conditions, with the maximum temperature touching 38 degree Celsius Team News Gujarat LionsAlready comprising a solid all-round team, the Lions' bowling was a concern the other night. But since it's still early days in the tournament, not a lot is likely to change. That being said, Suresh Raina, who has been struggling for runs, has a golden opportunity to get some runs under his belt. He knows most of the bowlers having spent time with them playing for the same franchise for almost the last decade. To top it, Aaron Finch and Brendon McCullum make for one of the most explosive opening pairs in world cricket.

Probable XI: 1 Aaron Finch, 2 Brendon McCullum, 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 5 Ravindra Jadeja, 6 Ishan Kishan, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 James Faulkner, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Pradeep Sangwan, 11 Sararabjit Ladda

Rising Pune Supergiants A clinical win against MI, hence Dhoni's side has no reason to tinker the winning line-up unless there are any injury concerns. Conditions will be different to the one in Wankhede. Hence, it will be interesting to see if Dhoni continues to give R Ashwin his full quota of overs.