 The fifth season of the Indian Premier League will see two matches being
played on Tuesday. The first of the two matches involves Pune Warriors and Rajasthan Royals, with the match to be played in Pune.
The hosts have had a miserable twist of fortunes as five consecutive defeats
have left them second from bottom on the points table, with a possibility of
making it to the play offs alarmingly difficult. In their last match, there
was no happy homecoming for captain Sourav Ganguly as they lost to Kolkata
Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens.
Click for Live Score Card of Pune Warriors Vs Jaipur Rajasthan Royals
While the bowlers must be credited for the way they fought back after being plundered
for 98 runs in the first ten overs, the batsmen yet again failed to live up to
expectations. Strangely, Ganguly batted himself at number seven raising even more
questions about his ability to cope with the fast changing nature of the format.
Michael Clarke's arrival also has also not had any impact on the team's tales. Angelo Mathews has been the lone bright spot while Steven Smith has been
belligerent in the field.
Rajasthan Royals finally stemmed their flow of defeats with a much-needed win
against Kings XI Punjab on Saturday. The team is now in sixth spot, with ten points
from 11 matches and need to do a lot of work still to be in the hunt.
Their match against Pune Warriors could be the inspiration they are
looking for as Rahul Dravid hopes to bring his team more success. Ajinkya Rahane
and Dravid will be the key with the bat although they suffered a rare partnership
failure in the last match.
The middle-order has done well with Shane Watson stepping up while Brad
Hodge and Ashko Menaria chipped in with their cameos. The bowlers will
need to continue sticking to their plans as Shaun Tait and Watson kept it tight
while Botha picked up crucial wickets as well.
The match will be played in Pune starting at 4.00pm local time.
|
