IPL Schedule 2016: Live Stream, TV Info and Predictions for T20 Fixtures

Gujarat Lions prevailed with relative ease when they met Rising Pune Supergiants earlier in the 2016 Indian Premier League in the battle of the new franchises.

On that occasion Lions skipper Suresh Raina got one over his old Chennai Super Kings team-mate MS Dhoni as his side won by seven wickets in Rajkot thanks to an excellent opening partnership from Aaron Finch and Brendon McCullum.

The two sides meet again on Friday, this time in Pune, with Dhoni's RPS side on the up after they beat Sunrisers Hyderabad last time out to arrest a slump of four consecutive losses.

Read on for a full preview of the much-anticipated clash, along with television and live streaming details, and an updated schedule with predictions for the upcoming fixtures in IPL 9.

Date	Time (BST/IST)	Match	Venue	Prediction
April 29	3:30 p.m./8 p.m.	Rising Pune Supergiants vs. Gujarat Lions	Pune	GL win
April 30	11.30 a.m./4 p.m.	Delhi Daredevils vs. Kolkata Knight Riders	Delhi	KKR win
April 30	3:30 p.m./8 p.m.	Sunrisers Hyderabad vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore	Hyderabad	RCB win
May 1	11.30 a.m./4 p.m.	Gujarat Lions vs. Kings XI Punjab	Rajkot	GL win
May 1	3:30 p.m./8 p.m.	Rising Pune Supergiants vs. Mumbai Indians	Pune	MI win

To access the full schedule, click here. Watch all matches live on Sky Sports and live stream via Sky Go (UK only).

Rising Pune Supergiants vs. Gujarat Lions

There's a lot of CSK about the two new franchises in this year's IPL, unsurprisingly given they were the sides who picked up the pieces following Chennai and Rajasthan Royals' two-year suspension from the competition.

With the two outfits meeting again on Friday, former team-mates will go head-to-head having previously played alongside each other for the IPL's most successful outfit.

Along with Dhoni, Pune boast the likes of Ravi Ashwin, Faf du Plessis and Ishwar Pandey as former CSK players. 

Meanwhile, Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, McCullum, Dwayne Bravo and Dwayne Smith were picked up by Gujarat from the Super Kings' 2015 roster.

Thus far in the 2016 tournament, it seems the Lions have formed the better side around their core of former CSK players, showing terrific depth and variety with Aaron Finch starring at the top of the order alongside McCullum and Raina, and Dinesh Karthik also proving very effective in the middle order.

Pune, meanwhile, endured a terrible run of consecutive defeats, which even included a loss to current IPL whipping boys Kings XI Punjab.

However, they looked better in their rain-affected defeat of Sunrisers, per cricket writer Ayaz Memon:

Pune's bowling department looked excellent in Hyderabad, restricting a batting lineup including David Warner, Eoin Morgan and Shikhar Dhawan to just 118.

Mitchell Marsh was excellent as he conceded only 14 runs from his four overs and took two wickets, while Ashwin was similarly brilliant, per cricket writer Harsha Bhogle:

The bowling will be the key again for RSP against Gujarat, as if they do not keep things tight then Gujarat could score heavily with the big-hitting likes of McCullum, Finch and Smith.

In Raina, the Lions also have the IPL's most prolific run-scorer ever, per ESPN Cricinfo. 

Failure to restrict the Gujarat top order will inevitably result in defeat for Pune.

But given the strength of their own batting—Ajinkya Rahane, Du Plessis, Steve Smith and Dhoni are all more than capable of scoring heavily—they could pull off a key triumph if their bowlers can produce the goods again.