With no certain word still on Sachin Tendulkar's Indian Premier League debut tomorrow,
Kings XI Punjab will be eager to take the opportunity to clinch an elusive
win at home turf against Mumbai Indians here.
The Yuvraj Singh-led Punjab team, having lost both its matches -- against
Chennai Super Kings here and Rajasthan Royals at Jaipur, is bound
to be under pressure to record a victory as it will be again playing before
their home crowd.
Though Yuvraj is one of the dangerous batsman in this format of the game, he
is yet to unleash his real firepower for which he is known. He scored 23 and
57 in his previous two matches.
Other top batsman Mahela Jayawardene is also yet to prove himself while
his compatriot Kumar Sangakkara would wish to play a big knock tomorrow.
Punjab's other problem are its strike bowlers, who are yet to live up to their
reputation.
Right-arm fast bowler Brett Lee finished with similar figures of 4-0-35-1 in
his two matches while left-arm pacer Irfan Pathan had figures of 4-0-47-2 in
his first match.
S Sreesanth is yet to come good for the Punjab team as he has proved expensive
in the six overs he has bowled in two matches without much success.
The spin department, with Piyush Chawla in the forefront, has also failed
to click so far.
Another keen thing to watch out will be how Yuvraj tackles his state-mate Harbhajan
Singh.
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