5 interesting similarities between Sourav Ganguly's Pune Warriors India and MS Dhoni's Rising Pune Supergiants

2. Lacked in batting firepower

Robin Uthappa and Ajinkya Rahane played well at the top for both the sides

Both the Pune sides desperately missed an impact player in the batting department. These two teams had too many batsmen who were of similar moulds. The average strike rate of the opening batsmen for both the teams is below 130 and that hurt them in the powerplay overs.

Robin Uthappa and Ajinkya Rahane were the only consistent performers for Ganguly and Dhoni’s teams respectively, with each of them scoring over 400 runs in their time at Pune.

However, for both the teams, barring Steve Smith, no top-order batter possessed a strike rate of more than 130. Even if the top-order batsmen managed to build a solid platform, the much-required impetus later on was missing.

We can also look at the average strike rate of the five batsmen who had the best strike rates for the both the teams. For Ganguly’s team the average strike rate is as low as 123.93 and for Dhoni’s team, it’s 142.72. But for Dhoni’s side, the average strike rate includes the strike rate of Steve Smith who is now out of the tournament with an injury.