Pune Warriors welcome Sunrisers Hyderabad to the Sahara Stadium, in the first of the two IPL games today, with the hosts riding high on confidence after beating tournament favourites Chennai Super Kings in their own backyard two days ago.

Warriors' Steve Smith
IPL

Where to Watch Live

The match starts at 11.30am BST, with ITV 4 and ITV 4 HD providing live coverage in the UK. Follow the game live, via text commentary, on ESPN Cricinfo. You can watch the highlights of the match here.

Overview

The Warriors, who managed just one win from their last 13 games ahead of the trip to Chennai, produced a highly impressive all-round performance against MS Dhoni's men on Monday. They posted a challenging total of 159, thanks to some big-hitting from Australian duo Aaron Finch and Steve Smith, and won the game by 24 runs, after their seamers showcased a composed bowling performance. Pune now have two wins out of five this season and are level on points with fifth-placed Kings XI Punjab.

The Sunrisers, on the other hand, lost their last outing by 48 runs away to holders Kolkata Knight Riders. However, Hyderabad have enjoyed a flying start to their campaign and are currently fourth, with three wins out of five. This is the franchise's debut season in the league, after they replaced 2009 champions Deccan Chargers as the Hyderabad-based outfit back in October, following the latter's termination by the IPL governing council due toprolonged financial crisis.

Hyderabad won the reverse fixture by 22 runs earlier this month, after spectacularly defending a modest total of 126 at home.

Sunrisers' Dale Steyn
IPL

Team News

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Shikhar Dhawan, who was the Hyderabad outfit's leading run-scorer last season, remains sidelined after picking up a finger injury during India's recently concluded Test series against Australia. South African batsman JP Duminy has been ruled out for the entire tournament, while Aussie pacer Clint McKay is unavailable today.

However, West Indies skipper Darren Sammy and promising South African wicketkeeper/batsman Quinton de Kock have joined Tom Moody's squad, after returning from domestic commitments.

Probable Line-up: Akshath Reddy, P Patel (w), K Sangakkara, C White, T Perera, H Vihari, Ashish Reddy, K Sharma, A Mishra, D Steyn, I Sharma

Pune Warriors: MichaelClarke was earlier ruled out for the tournament due to recurring lower back and hamstring injuries. Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal is on national duty, while all-rounders Yuvraj Singh and Marlon Samuels are unavailable today. South African seamer Wayne Parnell also misses out.

Allan Donald has a major selection headache, on how to re-introduce captain Angelo Mathews to the side, with only four overseas players possible in the XI. The Sri Lankan was not allowed to travel to Chennai due to political reason but his replacement Smith took that opportunity with both hands, scoring 39 not out from 16 balls, swinging the game in his team's favour.

Stand-in captain Ross Taylor led the side efficiently in that match, while opener Finch continued his good form and scored his second fifty in three games. All-rounder Mitchell Marsh, who took the last of the overseas players spot, also impressed, taking two crucial wickets. So may be, Mathews might have to sit out for this match.

Probable Line-up: R Uthappa (wk), A Finch, M Pandey, R Taylor (c), S Smith, T Suman, M Marsh, A Nayar, B Kumar, R Sharma, A Dinda