Debutants Pune take on revamped Punjab (Preview)

IPL 2011

5th Match

Pune versus Punjab

Venue: Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai

Start Time: 2000 (IST)

IPL auction that happened earlier this year has resulted in change of personnel in all the teams except for those who were retained by their franchises. This has meant players will be pitted against the side they were a vital cog for first three years and scripted many wins for their teams.

Yuvraj Singh who will be captaining new entrants Pune this season will have Punjab as his first opponents, the team he was part of and even skippered them in one out of three seasons. Courtesy the auction loyalties of first three seasons have been buried and players will be keen to perform for new recruiters.

Man of the tournament in the world cup, Yuvraj will be leading the Pune team that looks very balanced on the paper with explosive batting line-up clearly going to be their strength. The likes of Graeme Smith, Robin Uthappa, Jesse Ryder and skipper himself make Pune one dangerous batting unit and will have some experienced men in their bowling arsenal. The thing that should be at top of the priority list for Pune will be to get the combination right and see who fits in what role in the side. Also, team management should make sure that players get to know each other quickly so that healthy camaraderie is developed between them.

Sunday’s encounter, literally, will see a duel between the two batting line-ups as both teams are packed with class and firepower, and, that should make it a high run scoring affair.

One of the inconsistent teams in first three seasons with no silverware to its name, a new look Punjab squad will be keen to put behind the past and get the season off to a good start. There can’t be a better start than a win that is what Adam Gilchrisht, captaining Punjab after doing same for Deccan first three seasons, and company will want.

Punjab’s fortunes will hinge on Gilchrisht’s own performance and if comes trumps with the bat, his team will be difficult defeat. Gilchrist will have a role to play in mentoring youngsters in the team as well to make them believe in their abilities.

PUNE

A batsmen heavy squad, Pune will look to its star skipper Yuvraj repeat what he did in the world cup for the national team as all-rounder, off late, has been in a terrific form with both bat and ball. He will have experience of South African Graeme Smith to turn to for advice

There are some powerful strikers of the cricket ball who can hit the long ball and this is where Pune can hurt their opponents.

What be interesting to see is who will be part of Pune bowling department as side looks thin in experience when it comes to bowlers. With injury to Ashish Nehra that will see him out of IPL in initial phase, it will have to be West Indian fast bowler Jerome Taylor and Indian left arm spinner Murali Karthik to share the duties of giving breakthroughs for the team.

There is an army of young domestic players in both bowling and fielding expected to perform and give a good account of themselves at the bigger stage.

Players who can make impact…

Robin Uthappa…national team discard, this right hander from Karnataka is one of the clean hitters in India. He mightn’t be a part of Indian team currently but ever since his debut selectors have had a close look at him. He is coming off a terrific domestic season for Karnataka and IPL is a perfect stage for the batsman to announce his comeback by tearing apart bowlers this season. He got all the ingredients to score big and fast in any format of the game and could well turn out to be some player for Pune.

Murali Karthik…Another player who many feel should have played for India more than he actually has done. A steady left arm spinner who varies his flight beautifully will itching to give another solid performance this season after having taken wickets in heaps in English county. Being the number one spinner in the squad, he is expected to take wickets in the middle overs for his team.

SQUAD

Yuvraj Singh (c) A Jhunjhunwala, Alfonso Thomas, Angelo Mathews, Ashish Nehra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Callum Ferguson, Dheeraj Jadhav, Eklavya Dwivedi, Ganesh Gaikwad, Graeme Smith, Harpreet Singh, Harshad Khadiwale, Imtiyaz Ahmed, Jerome Taylor, Jesse Ryder, Kamran Khan, Manish Pandey, Mitchell Marsh, Mithun Manhas, Monish Mishra, Murali Kartik, Nathan McCullum, Rahul Sharma, Robin Uthappa, Sachin Rana, Shrikant Mundhe, Shrikant Wagh, Tim Paine (wk), Wayne Parnell,

PUNJAB

There is enough firepower at the top of the order with likes of Gilchrisht, Shaun Marsh, Dinesh Karthik and David Hussey that can give any bowling line-up any sleepless nights. For some youngsters it is golden opportunity to learn how to bat in this format from Gilchrisht and other senior players so that they can hone their skills in a proper way.

Bowling department might not be packed with star names but there is enough variety on which team management can rely upon. Fit again Indian fast bowler Praveen Kumar will be the key as will be Ryan Harris known for his accurate bowling in death overs.

Leg spinner Piyush Chawla, whose selection in Indian world cup squad draw flak from various quarters, will be very upbeat of pocketing some wickets and silence his detractors.

Praveen Kumar…An underrated fast bowler who has taken whenever he has donned blue jersey is fit now after missing the world cup bus due to an injury is raring to do what he does best. He will have to play a crucial role with the new bowl as he the ability swing it both ways.

Ryan Mclaren… A talented all-rounder from South Africa who last season played for Mumbai will be very important to the team for he can contribute with both bat and ball. He has experience of playing t-20 cricket in various parts of the world that can come handy in the IPL.

SQUAD

Abhishek Nayar, Adam Gilchrist (c)(wk), Amit Yadav, Bhargav Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, David Hussey, David Miller, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Love Ablish, Mandeep Singh, Nathan Rimmington, Nitin Saini, Paras Dogra, Paul Valthaty, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Ryan Harris, Shalabh Srivastava, Shaun Marsh, Siddharth Chitnis, Sunny Singh, Vikramjeet Malik, Ryan McLaren.