Notwithstanding Rising Pune Supergiants' poor run in IPl-9, Sunrisers Hyderabad mentor VVS laxman considers the debutante side as a formidable unit and said his team will have to put its best foot forward when they clash with them in their IPl match on Tuesday.
"It goes without saying that (RPS Captain M S Dhoni) Dhoni will be looking forward to use Ashwin against Warner and Shikhar. I believe that Pune has got a very formidable batting line up," laxman said.
"lot of people talk about Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Faf Duplessis being similar. They are all extrordinary T20 players. We cannot at all be complecent or we cannot at all underestimate the batting strength of Pune. We are very mindful," he added.
The former Test batsman, however, exuded confidence that SRH can take on any opposition if it sticks to its plans and executes them well.
"But, I believe that if we concentrate on our plans and try to execute our plans, then we can do well against any opposition. It's more about concentrating and playing to our strength, while strategizing for each and every oppositon batsman or bowler," he said.
Noting that the MS Dhoni-led Pune team would look to bounce back strongly, laxman said no team can be ruled out as it is still the early part of the long IPl tournament.
"I was reading that Fleming was disappointed with the way they started their campaign. But, they got an exceptionally talented side with Captain MS Dhoni leading from the front. I am sure they will look to bounce back strongly. We have seen in the past someone like Mumbai Indians lost lot of the matches and went on to win the IPl.
"So, it is just the start of the tournament and no team can be ruled out. I am sure they would like to bounce back. We have seen this in IPl where it's all about momentum. Once you start winning the matches, then you win continuously and once you start losing matches, you start losing consecutively two or three matches. It's all about momentum. Pune will be looking forward to win. That's why it's going to be a very important match against them," he said.