IPL-6 Royal challenge for laggards Pune
The only constant factor in Pune Warriors India’s recent performances has been their results. With no remarkable improvement, Pune have slumped to five straight losses and continue to be bottom-dwellers on the league table.
After a morale-sapping 37-run loss to Chennai Super Kings at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium here on Tuesday, Pune now face the star-studded Royal Challenger Bangalore on Thursday.
With just a day to regroup, Pune will have to come up a spirited performance to stop Bangalore, who are smarting from two back to back defeats.
Virat Kohli’s side were atop the table not too long ago but the two reverses in Mumbai and Jaipur have pushed them down to second place as per the standings after Tuesday’s match.
Bangalore will also look forward to the stopover here as the last time they played Pune, Chris Gayle and Co. put up an astonishing batting display smashing 263/5, the highest total ever seen in the tournament.
Gayle tore the bowling attack to shreds, hitting and unbeaten 175 off 66 balls. Pune were blown away by the onslaught and crashed to a 130-run defeat.
While Bangalore’s batting fires in unison more often than not, no batsman has been able to score in excess of 35 in the last two games. The bowling too needs to tighten up as they
Pune’s problems have compounded thanks to their poor home record. They have only won three games out of 12 at home and have the second worst win-percentage record
allowed Mumbai to score in excess of 190 and failed to contain Rajasthan while the latter needed 172 for victory.
The visitors replaced Tilakratne Dilshan with Moises Henriques for the last matches and the allrounder did well to stake his claim in the XI.
On the other hand, Pune’s problems have compounded thanks to their poor home record. They have only won three games out of 12 at home and have the second worst win-percentage record after Deccan Chargers.
Right from the start, the death bowling has been Pune’s bane and against CSK too, the team leaked 62 runs in last few overs. The teammanagement has shown faith in Ashoke Dinda but the Bengal pacer has been ineffective in the end. The team have also conceded a whopping 55 sixes, the most by any side this season. Aaron Finch at the top has been contributing with the bat but others including dashing Yuvraj Singh have let the team down.