The ninth day of the Indian Premier League will see two matches being played, with Pune Warriors taking on Kings XI Punjab later in the evening in Mohali. Interestingly, the two sides played their last match against each other and this will be the second of the double-header.
With two wins from as many matches, Pune Warriors are currently second the table behind Rajasthan Royals. They won by 22 runs against Kings XI Punjab on Sunday. Robin Uthappa and Marlon Samuels controlled the batting flow in the middle before the finishing impetus was provided by Manish Pandey and Steven Smith, who struck four sixes between them.
The bowlers gave in a collective effort to keep the scoring in check. Ashok Dinda continues to impress while Ashish Nehra’s experience will also be useful. Jesse Ryder, on comeback trail, may not get a better opportunity to get into form against a bowling attack that is not very intimidating.
Kings XI Punjab ended up on the losing side for the second time in as many matches, and would rather prefer a change in fortunes to get their campaign back on track. Some weakness in the bowling department continues to cost them as Bipul Sharma was taken for plenty of runs.
Though he scored a 35-run cameo later with the bat, the timing of it was too late to have an impact on the end-result. Adam Gilchrist will need to reassess his strategy as the team, already short of big superstar names, has looked short of ideas on the field. Gilchrist’s own form has been rather disappointing as he scored only six runs from 11 balls.
Dimitri Mascarenhas and David Hussey are the sort of players who could change the game on their own, and they would hope to do so sooner rather than later.
The match will be played in Mohali and a fanfare atmosphere cannot be ruled out should Kings XI do well.