Preview: Below-par Pune, Punjab battle out at Mohali

By Suneer Chowdhary

 

Both, Kings XI Punjab and the Pune Warriors India are in trouble of varying proportions. Punjab have won only three games and lost five. Pune have done worse, winning two before slumbering off to a seven-match losing streak.

By Suneer Chowdhary

 

Mohali: May 7, 2011

 

Both, Kings XI Punjab and the Pune Warriors India are in trouble of varying proportions in the IPL this year. Punjab have won only three games and lost five. Pune have done worse, winning two before slumbering off to a seven-match losing streak.

 

So, when the two teams, Punjab and Pune meet in the 51^st game of the Indian Premier League, it is not a game that will spark off great interest from the tournament’s point of view, but both sides have much to play for.

 

As things currently stand, Punjab still have a toehold in the door. A string five wins in their six games could see them through to the next round. And their captain Adam Gilchrist, has had the experience of doing that in the previous editions of the tournament.

 

Pune are down, out and almost buried. Even if they win all their games from this stage, they will end on 14 points, which does not give any guarantees of qualification for the last four stage. They will be fighting for pride.

 

Punjab lost their previous game to the Royal Challengers Bangalore but the way they were outplayed by the one man, Chris Gayle, they will be happy to have a game as quickly as this. The bowlers were pulverised and apart from grinning and bearing it, there wasn’t much else that Gilchrist could do.

 

Pune were expected to go into their previous game with Sourav Ganguly in their line-up, but they had opted to rest him. He should play this one, more in an attempt to reignite the fans’ interest in the side than the team’s fortunes.

 

Gilchrist needs to fire but that seems to be the most clichéd statement of the summer. Without him going great guns, Shaun Marsh has had to take the responsibility of batting through alone. Abhishek Nayar has looked woefully short in confidence while the middle-order as a whole has seemed fish out of water.

 

Pune’s batting on paper and their batting on the field are as different from each other as chalk is from cheese. Parallels with Deccan Chargers from the first edition of the IPL are inevitable as their potentially strong batting capitulates game after game. Part of it is obviously inflicted by the team’s reluctance to send Yuvraj Singh or Robin Uthappa up the order.

 

The late-night game would mean that there will be a chance of dew affecting the team fielding second. The team winning the toss could field first.

 

Teams:

 

KXIP (Probable): Adam Gilchrist (c&wk), Paul Valthaty, Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Abhishek Nayar, Sunny Singh, Piyush Chawla, Ryan McLaren, Bipul Sharma, Ryan Harris, Praveen Kumar

 

PWI (Probable): Graeme Smith, Jesse Ryder, Sourav Ganguly, Manish Pandey, Yuvraj Singh (c), Robin Uthappa (wk), Mithun Manhas, Rahul Sharma, Alfonso Thomas, Murali Kartik, Jerome Taylor

 

Time: 20.00 local (14.30 GMT)

 

(Suneer is a Mumbai-based cricket writer and can be contacted at suneerchowdhary@gmail.com and Tweets here: @suneerchowdhary)

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