What sadistic pleasures Pune Warriors must be looking to derive when they take on Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Man Singh stadium here in Sunday’s prime time fixture.
Warriors are practically out from the play-offs race with two wins from 11 matches so far, though hanging in by a thin mathematical probability. Even though they might end their campaign earlier than expected, they have the tempting options of denting Royals’ unblemished home record or giving them some anxious moments by delaying their entry into the next stage. With six wins from10 matches, the Royals are looking to take some quick points off a troubled side to book their play-off berth at the earliest.
And, two back-to-back matches against two bottom-placed performers (Warriors taking the last one) surely raise their confidence by a notch. While Delhi Daredevils on Tuesday might still be someone to be a bit wary of, Warriors indeed don’t look good enough to give the Rahul Dravid-led side much challenge at a place where even the mightier ones like Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore have failed.
Though the Warriors might have got the better of the Jaipur brigade the last time they met, in Pune last month, when the visitors were given a royal treatment of another kind when they were handed a seven-wicket defeat, this is a completely different setting. For, the Royals have used their knowledge of the home pitch and conditions to a hilt.
While Dravid, after Friday’s eight-wicket loss to Kolkata Knight Riders, might have refused to give home advantage much weightage, even he can’t deny that it’s those five out five wins at home that have kept his bunch good for the stake at another title.
With Shane Watson threatening all the attacks everywhere, having collected 349 runs, there has to be a really big reason for him to not be able to do the same with a visiting attack at a pitch he knows better. An 18-year-old, Sanju Samson, meanwhile, has been a refreshing responsibility sharer in the middle order. From Dravid, Watson, Samson to Ajinkya Rahane, Brad Hodge, Stuart Binny, everyone has contributed well so far. In bowling, apart from a certain S Sreesanth, James Faulkner, Siddharth Trivedi, Binny and spin duo Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan have taken care of the attack well.
Warriors, meanwhile, don’t have anything going the right way for them. Having tried their share of experiments with skippers in Aaron Finch, Ross Taylor and Angelo Mathews, the side still seems to be searching for answers to some futile questions. Talking of experiments, even Dravid might want to stay off them after his decision to come at No 8 against Knight Riders didn’t impress many.
Probably the only solution for the Warriors, who have just suffered their sixth straight defeat, is that they need to find a way to fix their each and every department in shortest time possible.
For, they need to win all the five remaining matches and then hope for some outside luck (read other sides’ bad results) to sneak into the final four.
The biggest challenge in that could be to wake up the destroyer in Yuvraj Singh from his slumber. His obvious angst and disappointment at being left out of the Champions Trophy squad might be channelled to Warriors’ advantage. Apart from Finch and Robin Uthappa, none of the bats has even touched the half-century mark.
And, their main bowler Ashok Dinda has bled runs. He went for ODI-like figures of 52 runs against the RCB recently. The only relief might be the work that Kane Richardson and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar have shared among themselves. But the Warriors would need more than just some relieving moments to breach the fort SMS here.
Else, they might be the ones left red-faced in the Pink City.