Internet Desk: Rising Pune Supergiants will look to bounce back in the Indian Premier League as they take on Kolkata Knight Riders in Pune on Sunday. The Supergiants will go into the match following consecutive losses against Gujarat Lions (by 7 wickets), Kings XI Punjab (by 6 wickets) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (by 13 runs) last night.
The Knight Riders on the other hand have been on a roll, winning three of their four matches. Barring the defeat against Mumbai Indians, the two time champions has been convincing in their wins. Captain Gautam Gambhir has been phenomenal with the bat scoring 226 runs in 4 matches with an average of 113. The left hander scored two fifties that include a 90* against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Robin Uthappa has also been in great touch so far for the Knight Riders.
But the two time champions did suffer a blow as Manish Pandey has been ruled out of the next few games of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as he is down with chicken pox.It is still not clear how many matches the 26-year-old will miss out.
Pandey has been a regular for the Knight Riders so far this season and one of the most important players in the side. In the 4 matches he played so far this season, Pandey has scored 90 runs with one fifty to his name which came in a losing cause against the Mumbai Indians.
Unlike the other debutants Gujarat Lions, the performance of Supergiants has been far from impressive in the cash rich league so far. It is not the result a team comprising Kevin Pietersen, Steve Smith, Faf du Plessis, Ajinkya Rahane and Dhoni deserves.The overseas trio of Pietersen, Smith and Du Plessis failed miserably in the last game, and the Supergiants would hope for a much-improved performance from the batting heavyweights.
Ravichandran Ashwin woefully looked out of form and that has been hurting Supergiants captain MS Dhoni. In fact the off spinner after the mauling he received at the hands of West Indies batsmen in the World T20 semi final at Wankhede is still to get back to form.
It will be a tough challenge for the Supergiants bowlers against the power packed batting line up of the Knight Riders that comprises the likes of big hitters like Andre Russel, Colin Munro, Robin Uthappa, Yousuf Pathan and Manish Pandey.
While Perera was the pick of the bowlers the other day, the likes of Ishant Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin and Murugan Ashwin will have to be among the wickets for Pune to harbour hopes of a victory at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium tommorow.
Gautam Gambhir will be wary about any sort of complacency creeping into his side, as the players are pretty relaxed. The Knight Riders cricketers took a break from their practice schedule yesterday to watch team owner Shahrukh Khan’s latest release ‘FAN’.