 The Kings XI Punjab will play the Pune Warriors India in the 51st game
of the Indian Premier League this year. The Punjab side will need to win
this game to have an outside chance of qualifying for the next round whereas the
Pune Warriors will need to win this game to bow out of the tournament with some
respect intact.
The Pune Warriors are in a bad rut currently. They have lost seven games
in a row and most of them have been through poor captaincy and batting. The
captaincy has seen Yuvraj Singh make some random decisions about the
batting order and not having Yuvraj Singh batting at the top of the order and
firing all cylinders has also affected the preparations.
Click for Live Score Card of Mohali Punjab Kings Vs Pune Warriors
Then again, the batsmen who have batted at the top of the order for Pune have
not fired. Different batsmen have been tried at different times like Jesse Ryder,
Graeme Smith, Tim Paine amongst others but none of them have been able to get
going and that has been a problem.
Sourav Ganguly will now play for the side in this game and he should
replace Abhishek Jhunjhunwala in the playing eleven. The big question, though,
is whether he can do something about the fledging fortunes of the side, which
has already lost so many games and confidence.
On the other hand, the Punjab side has three wins from the nine games that they
have played. They have lost six games including their last game to the Royal Challengers
Bangalore. on most occasions, it is their batting which has given way to the losses,
but on this occasion against the Bangalore side, it was a combination of Gayle-power
and poor bowling that allowed the side to win the game.
Punjab will look to ensure that they can get the bowling combination right. They
will need to rest Abhishek Nayar from the playing eleven, which will be necessary
given his poor run with the bat and the ball. Praveen Kumar's injury will be of
concern given that he has had a troubled elbow and will need to get fit to be
able to play this one.
On the other hand, Pune will look to get in Ganguly to open the innings and Yuvraj
and Uthappa to bat at four and five.
Punjab will be favourites given this is their home game but Pune had beaten Punjab
the last game they played.
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