RPS look to maintain momentum against Gujarat Lions

Steadily gaining momentum after struggling initially, Rising Pune Supergiant would look to maintain the rhythm when they clash with a low-on-confidence Gujarat Lions in an Indian Premier League match here on Monday.

After languishing in the bottom-half of the table, Supergiant notched up four wins in their last five matches to grab the fourth place.

Currently on 10 points from nine games with five wins in their kitty, a win on Monday would ensure that the RPS stay in top-four and strengthen their chances of making the play-offs in the 10th edition of the IPL.

In contrast, the Lions are at fifth with eight points from nine games and need to win rest of their matches to keep the chances of booking a play-off berth alive.

The Supergiant would draw confidence from their comprehensive 61-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore here last night. Pune bowlers rose to the occasion, defending a sub-par total of 157 with a controlled bowling performance as they rode on brilliant performances by Imran Tahir (3/18) and man- of-the-match Lockie Ferguson (2/7). Even Jaydev Unadkat, Daniel Christian and Washington Sundar chipped in with a wicket apiece.

However, the batsmen struggled to up the ante although the pitch was reasonably good and put on a total of just over 155 runs despite losing only three wickets.

Skipper Steve Smith would be keen to address the issue of inconsistent batting when they face the Lions.