Placed at No 3 in the points table, Rising Pune Giant will be taking on Delhi Daredevils in their penultimate league game of the VIVO IPL 2017. The Steven Smith-led team have been sweating it out in Delhi for two days and are aware that the home team can throw up a few surprises. Speaking about DD, who have pulled off some thrilling wins and will be looking to finish the season on a winning note, Manoj Tiwary said, “The Delhi Daredevils have won the last game and they will be coming hard at us, we know that. We are not going to make any special changes or some other (different) plans for these guys. We will follow our normal procedures before the game; those discussions and plans are helping our team to do well on the field. We are not going to change too much; the approach and intent of every player will be the similar (as it was).”

“We know we are going to face a real tough challenge ahead because they have chased a 200 plus score here (at Feroz Shah Kotla) as well. We all know that a few of the youngsters are playing really well. Rishabh (Pant) plays fearlessly and Sanju (Samson) as well. So when you have players who don’t have anything to lose, when they play, they play in a very aggressive manner, with positive intent. We have seen the results of what happens when they play like that. We are aware of those things and I’m sure our bowling coach will come up with a few plans of where to bowl at. Let’s hope our bowlers can actually execute their plans,” he added.

Tiwary has himself played and plotted against the young DD line-up throughout the domestic season. Asked if he would have inputs having watched them and faced them more closely in domestic cricket contests, the experienced batsman said, “Whatever knowledge that I gather, the observations I make on field and off field as well, I make sure that I convey that to the bowling coach and the coach as well. Also in match situation those inputs are more important than prior to the game. We all know that under pressure, a little suggestion, or observations about the batsman you can go up to the captain and tell him at that time. So if I have suggestions to give on the match day I will be doing so.”

Speaking about his own team, Tiwary said that the team has been focussed on the game coming up and the atmosphere in the dressing room is also good. “The players are peaking at the right time in the tournament; which is the business end of the tournament and that is good. We are seeing players perform in pressure situations which is good,” he added. Looking forward to the contest against DD, and how the team planned to approach the match, Tiwary said “If we win this game we are more or less through. However, we are not looking at just winning this game but strive to win both the remaining matches and hope to be in the top two positions.”