Smith seeks winning start at venue of Test success
In February, Steven Smith led Australia to a famous Test win in Pune. Now, he returns to the city as Rising Pune Supergiant's new captain
The Preview by Akshay Gopalakrishnan
05-Apr-2017
Match facts
Rising Pune Supergiant v Mumbai Indians
Pune, April 6, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)
Pune, April 6, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)
Head to head
Overall: Both sides have one away win apiece against each other.
Which overseas spinner should Supergiant field?
1 votesImran Tahir, the world's No. 1 T20I bowler
Adam Zampa, their highest wicket-taker last season
In the news
MS Dhoni will not be leading an IPL team for the first time after Rising Pune Supergiant handed the captaincy to Steven Smith. There are two others - Faf du Plessis and Ajinkya Rahane - who have captaincy experience, so the team won't be short of ideas.
Supergiant won't have R Ashwin for the season because of a sports hernia, and Mitchell Marsh is also injured, but they signed the current No.1 T20 and ODI bowler Imran Tahir.
Mumbai Indians had a change of guard, with Mahela Jayawardene replacing the 2015 title-winning coach Ricky Ponting. Mumbai don't have players on the injury list, but do have a few returning from it.
Rohit Sharma has played only two competitive matches since undergoing thigh surgery in November and scored 20 runs in them. He's lasted two warm-up games without discomfort and said he's overcome fears to last the season and beyond. Lasith Malinga will also be returning from an injury layoff but is likely to join the team on April 7, after finishing Sri Lanka's home series against Bangladesh.
The likely XIs
Rising Pune Supergiant: 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Mayank Agarwal, 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 MS Dhoni (wk), 7 Rajat Bhatia, 8 Jaydev Unadkat 9 Ankit Sharma, 10 Ashok Dinda, 11 Adam Zampa
Mumbai Indians: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Parthiv Patel (wk), 3 Ambati Rayudu, 4 Jos Buttler, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Mitchell McClenaghan, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Tim Southee
Stats that matter
Akshay Gopalakrishnan is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo