Getting his team composition right will be Mahendra Singh Dhoni's primary aim as Rising Pune Supergiants meet an out-of-sorts Kings XI Punjab in an Indian Premier league cricket tournament encounter, here on Sunday.
While the IPl debutants Supergiants have a win and a loss to show for their efforts, Kings XI Punjab has been beaten comprehensively in both their matches as they are already at the bottom of the heap.
Since the league has just about completed the first week, the tables can be turned upside down with a few back-to-back wins, which both the teams will be aiming for.
For India's limited overs captain Dhoni, it has always been about getting his combination right. In CSK, it was a different scenario, where the Chennai franchise always had half the battle won at the auction table itself which resulted in their consistent show over the years.
But in Pune, Dhoni is yet to figure out what exactly should be the combination.
While RP Singh has been Dhoni's trusted lieutenant in the India team once upon a time but the left-arm seamer has lost a lot of his sting and perhaps is not same bowler that he used to be in 2007-08 phase. Similarly with Ishant Sharma, the problem has always been his lack of consistency in the shorter formats which has prevented him from getting longer ropes either for national team or the franchise team.
If Dhoni looks at his team, he will find that other two Indian options are Irfan Pathan and Iswar Pandey. While Pathan is no longer the player he used to be but his batting can give Dhoni a chance to play him in the playing XI.
KXIP's successful campaign in 2014 was largely due to the exploits of Glenn Maxwell (552 runs) and current skipper David Miller (446 runs), who were in prime form at that stage.In both matches this season, Miller and Maxwell had flopped putting too much pressure on the other batsmen.
Test specialist Murali Vijay has never been the T20 player he used to be once he left Chennai Super Kings. Young Manan Vohra has always played attractive strokes in between but against top quality bowling has been susceptible.