On a roll after three consecutive victories, a resurgent Sunrisers Hyderabad start as overwhelming favourites against struggling Rising Pune Supergiants in Tuesday's Indian Premier League match in Hyderabad.
After losing two games in a row, Sunrisers turned their fortunes around by posting comprehensive victories over Mumbai Indians (by 7 wickets), Gujarat Lions (by 10 wickets) and Kings XI Punjab (by 5 wickets).
The Hyderabad outfit occupies the fourth spot in the eight-team standings, with six points from five games.
On the contrary, the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Supergiants are languishing at seventh, with just two points from five encounters.
Despite injuries to its key players, including Yuvraj Singh, Ashish Nehra and Kane Williamson, the Hyderabad side is a high, the team clicking collectively in the last three games.
Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner is in great form and presently the second-highest run-scorer, with 294 runs from five games, which includes four half centuries.
The swashbuckling Australian batsman is just behind Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli, who leads the chart with 367 runs from five games.
But for Sunrisers Hyderabad the big relief is the return to form opener Shikhar Dhawan after a poor showing in the first three matches this season.
Dhawan regained his touch with unbeaten 53 against Gujarat Lions and 45 against Kings XI Punjab.
Other Sunrisers Hyderabad batsmen, including Moises Henriques, Eoin Morgan and wicketkeeper Naman Ojha, have also made useful contributions for the side in crucial situations.
Despite the absence of the seasoned Nehra, the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers have made an impact and made it difficult for the opposition.
In Nehra's absence, seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has led Sunrisers Hyderabad's bowling department well and is currently the second-highest wicket-taker with eight scalps from five games.
But it is young Bangladesh left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman who is the most impressive. He has used his variations to perfection and earned accolades from his skipper.
Mustafizur, in fact, is fourth on the wicket-takers list with seven scalps, but it is his miserly economy rate of 5.75 per over that has impressed all and sundry.
Besides, the likes of Barinder Sran, Deepak Hooda and Bipul Sharma have also been impressive with the ball although they leaked runs at times.
New outfit Supergiants, on the other hand, are struggling to find the right team combination, a fact head coach Stephen Fleming duly accepted.
After the victory over Mumbai Indians in the tournament opener, the Supergiants suffered four consecutive defeats -- against Gujarat Lions (by 7 wickets), Kings XI Punjab (by 6 wickets), Royal Challengers Bangalore (by 13 runs) and Kolkata Knight Riders (by 2 wickets on Sunday night).
And come Tuesday, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be eager to break the sequence of reverses and get Supergiants' campaign back on track.
Having moved to Pune this year from the banned Chennai Super Kings, where he enjoyed great success, Dhoni will be keen to replicate that in his new jersey with a bit of help from his team-mates.
So far, it hasn't been a smooth campaign for India's twin World Cup-winning captain, barring the tournament opener against defending champions against Mumbai Indians.
For a team comprising Steve Smith, Faf du Plessis, Ajinkya Rahane, Thissara Perera besides Dhoni, such results are surprising.
The Supergiants have also been dealt a severe blow in the form of Kevin Pietersen, who has been ruled out for the remainder of the tournament with a calf muscle injury.
Among the team's overseas players Du Plessis has been among runs while Smith is to yet fire in the tournament even though he got starts.
While Rahane's well-made 67 went in vain in the last match, Dhoni is contributing down the order for the new side.
But what has hurt Supergiants the most has been the team's indifferent bowling.
Pacer Ishant Sharma is not regarded a potent T20 bowler and has been on and off the playing eleven, while the likes of Thissara Perera and Albie Morkel need to shoulder more responsibility in the pace unit.
Medium-pacer Rajat Bhatia has impressed but the Supergiants have been hit hard by inconsistent performances of spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Murugan Ashwin and Ankit Sharma.
Teams:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (captain), Ashish Reddy, Ricky Bhui, Bipul Sharma, Trent Boult, Ben Cutting, Shikar Dhawan, Moises Henriques, Deepak Hooda, Siddarth Kaul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhimanyu Midtun, Eoin Morgan, Mustafizur Rahman, Ashish Mehra, Naman Ojha, Vijay Shanker, Karn Sharma, Barinder Sran, T Suman, Aditya Tare, Kane Williamson and Yuvraj Singh.
Rising Pune Supergiants: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Kevin Pietersen, Faf du Plessis, Steve Smith, Mitchell Marsh, Jaskaran Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ankit Sharma, Albie Morkel, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Ishwar Pandey, Thisara Perera, Saurabh Tiwary, RP Singh, Rajat Bhatia, Ankush Bains, Baba Aparajith, Murugan Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, Deepak Chahar, Scott Boland, Peter Handscomb, Adam Zampa.
