Washington Sundar, RPS, Mumbai Indians, IPL 2017 final, playoffs
RPS are likely to stick to the same XI that got them into the IPL 2017 finalIANS

No Imran Tahir, no Ben Stokes, no problem at all it was for the Rising Pune Supergiant in their first ever playoff game and the plan will be to move along that same path when they play the Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2017 final in Hyderabad on Sunday.

Despite losing two of their most crucial overseas players, RPS still found a way to beat the Mumbai Indians, and convincingly too, to move into the final at the first time of asking.

While the Mumbai Indians had to play an extra match and only get a day's rest before playing the final, the Rising Pune Supergiant have had quite a few days more.

Sometimes that might work for you, but sometimes a bit if rustiness might creep in, so we'll just have to wait and see which RPS show up on Sunday.

As far as their team is concerned, there seems to be no problems or issues whatsoever.

RPS decided to go a batsman light in their last game, choosing to go with Lockie Ferguson in the place of Stokes, who flew back to England after the last league game.

While that could have backfired a little, as RPS lost a few quick wickets, they found a way to get to a defendable score, thanks to a couple of good innings from Ajinkya Rahane and Manoj Tiwary and an MS Dhoni blitz.

With their bowling doing so well, they managed to keep MI at bay and move into the final.

Considering how well that match went, unless there are any late injuries, RPS should go with the same playing XI that beat MI in Qualifier 1.

Mitchell McClenaghan, Mumbai Indians, RPS, IPL 2017, final
Mitchell McClenaghan remains a doubtful starter for the IPL 2017 finalIANS

The Mumbai Indians lost Mitchell McClenaghan to injury in their last game, a match they managed to win and lock their place in the final.

The injury to their leading wicket-taker in IPL 2017 is not serious and McClenaghan will go through a fitness test just before the match. If he doesn't make it, Mitchell Johnson will keep his place in the playing XI.

Harbhajan Singh is the other big talking point as far as team selection is concerned, with the off-spinner missing both of MI's playoff games so far.

With Karn Sharma putting on a man of the match performance in the last game, it looks like the experienced off-spinner will miss out again.

Ambati Rayudu has failed with the bat in both of the playoff games so far, and MI might consider giving Nitish Rana a chance. However, since this is a final, experience is important, which means Rayudu keeping his place in the team.

Confirmed playing XI:

Rising Pune Supergiant: Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Tripathi, Steve Smith (C), Manoj Tiwary, MS Dhoni, Dan Christian, Washington Sundar, Lockie Ferguson, Shardul Thakur, Adam Zampa, Jaydev Unadkat.

 

Mumbai Indians: Parthiv Patel, Lendl Simmons, Ambati Rayudu, Rohit Sharma (C), Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Karn Sharma, Mitchell Johnson, Jasprit Bumrah, Lasith Malinga.