The Match: The Pune Warriors India will take on the Deccan Chargers in the 62nd game of the Indian Premier League at the Dr DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai. The two sides have already crashed out of the IPL and will only be playing for pride…
How the two teams match up:
…however, that said, there is a very outside chance that the Pune Warriors India can still go into the final four. They have eight points with three games to be played, which means that they can still get to 14 points in the points table. If they get there and Kolkata lose all their games, there is a chance for a tie for the fourth spot with 14 points. However, the Warriors will need many of the results to go their way as well, including Rajasthan losing two in a row.
But first things first, Pune will need to win this one first. Their last game was also against the Deccan Chargers and the side had won comfortably thanks to the start provided by Jesse Ryder and the batting of Sourav Ganguly. Deccan will, however, go into the game with a shocking win over the Mumbai Indians and will look to spoil the party for the Pune Warriors as well.
Ground Conditions: The match will be played at the Dr DY Patil stadium which will allow for good bounce and pace and that will allow the batsmen to get going.
The Teams: The Pune Warriors will go in with the same line-up that beat Deccan in their previous game. What will be interesting to see is the batting order – Jesse Ryder may have extended his stay at the crease by a game and Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh need to bat at three and four.
The Chargers will also look to go in with the same playing eleven, though there is a chance that Pragyan Ojha may be replaced by a medium-pacer. The track at Pune will not assist too much of a spin.
Players to look out for: Chargers will look to allow Michael Lumb another game at the top of the order and will probably be looking at a big one from him. The Warriors need their bowling to do exactly what they had done to the Chargers previously – stifled them into submission.
Prediction: The Pune Warriors will be favourites to make it 10 points after this game.