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Given Pune Warriors’ current form, they would be desperately hoping that in their match against Royal Challengers Bangalore today, Chris Gayle doesn’t repeat the carnage that took place in Bangalore last week.
Pune’s Achilles’ heel has been their inconsistent batting and they seem like a team pulling in different directions; a clear leadership void is evident. The failure of Indian batsmen, especially Robin Uthappa and Yuvraj Singh, has been disappointing for IPL watchers and damaging for the team. Another area where Pune seem to struggle is death bowling. In their previous two matches against Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils, Warriors conceded 62 and 63 runs respectively in the last five overs. You simply cannot leak that many runs and expect to somehow win; especially when your batting has been misfiring all season.
Here is an interesting statistic which summarizes the Pune Warriors’ current season – there have been 14 scores of 20 or more between Aaron Finch, Robin Uthappa and Yuvraj Singh. However, only three of them have been converted to scores of 50 or more. Their stalwarts are contributing with small cameos but not going on to convert them into match-winning knocks, which is hurting the Pune side. Ideally, it should have been the other way round, with the likes of Yuvraj and Finch scoring bulk of runs and others chipping in with cameos. The focus though will continue to be on Finch, Uthappa and Yuvraj, for they are the ones who can get Pune out of this rut. Steven Smith is another important protagonist in the PWI line-up, as he infuses energy into the team. He has the reputation of being a very good finisher, but for him to unleash his full potential, he needs a stable top-order which Pune have simply failed to provide so far.
The bottom line is Pune Warriors India lie last in the table with just two wins from ten matches. The team, though, will be aware that there are certain permutations which still allow them to progress to the play-offs. But to achieve the improbable, they first need to start winning. It is a case of now or never for PWI.
Conditions:
On the evidence of the matches played so far this season, the pitch in Pune seems to be on the slower side, with several low scores highlighting that fact. The team winning the toss would have no hesitation in batting first and putting pressure on the opposition on a tough pitch later.
Head-to-Head:
In the previous four matches between these two franchises, Royal Challengers Bangalore lead Pune Warriors India 4-0; this is as one sided as it gets.
Key Players:
Bhuvneshwar Kumar: In a team which has struggled to contain the flow of runs in the death overs, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has held his own. His efficient spell got lost somewhere in Gayle’s carnage that day, when he had outstanding figures of 0-23 in his four-over spell at Bangalore. Overall, he has to his name 8 wickets at 6.33 runs per over this season.
Yuvraj Singh: Yuvraj Singh’s performances have been going only in one direction this season – downwards. His critics are saying he is disinterested and just does not want to be with this team. If that’s the case, it puts a big question mark over his professional ethics and he would be desperate to shut all the murmurings out there. If the hard-hitting left hander gets going, then Kohli will be staring at a third consecutive defeat and fifth defeat away from home.
Possible XI:
Pune Warriors won’t look to change personnel, at least as far as their foreign contingent is concerned, but would tinker a bit with their local players.
Aaron Finch (c), Robin Uthappa (wk), Yuvraj Singh, Luke Wright, Steven Smith, Mithun Manhas, Abhishek Nayar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashok Dinda, Rahul Sharma, Kane Richardson.
Prediction:
It would take a brave man to predict a game involving Chris Gayle, as he could make mockery of all the pre-match predictions. But not withstanding the Gayle factor, I am backing Pune Warriors India to pull off a shock win considering how dismal RCB have been on the road so far; they have lost four on the trot away from home this season.
