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.
The Supergiant would draw confidence from their comprehensive 61-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore here Saturday 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.
Skipper Steve Smith would be keen to address the issue of inconsistent batting when they face the lions.
But with the likes of Smith, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Manoj Tiwary and local boy Rahul Tripathi being among the runs so far, RPS would hope for them to fire in unison on Monday.
On the other hand, the lions are coming into the match following a heartbreaking loss to Mumbai Indians in a thrilling Super Over finish at Rajkot Saturday night. However, the lions must be happy to have taken the match to the Super Over while defending a modest total of 154.
The Gujarat fielders were outstanding as they affected four run-outs, including three in the last seven balls, to bundle out Mumbai Indians for 153 off the final ball.
Besides James Faulkner (2/34) and new-found talent Basil Thampi (3/29), who can bowl yorkers at will, chipping in with important contributions, new recruit Irfan Pathan also kept his nerves while bowling the last over.
Gujarat would want their bowlers to continue in the same vein but would want the batsmen to take more responsibility.