With 4 games left, this and all following games, had become must win matches for Pune which made their performance extremely disappointing as Rajasthan were comfortably the better side for all 36.2 overs bowled to climb up into the hotly contested 4th position. Pune, on the other hand, continue to struggle with that pursuit of the ideal XI which is generally the sign of a side under pressure.
Anustup Majumbar - 30 from 20 balls
Probably the only positive for PWI here was the innings played by 2012 debutant Majumbar who came in for the inconsistent Pandey. He came in at number 4, following the dismissals of both openers and a sluggish run rate, and looked the most assured Pune batsman, not that he had much competition! He rotated the strike well and launched into 11th over, bowled by Chavan, to hit a couple of maximums over wide long-on, showing good use of his feet to get to the pitch. Unfortunately he fell at the wrong time, unnecessarily advancing down to Botha to end up yorking himself, having hit the previous ball for four he should have simply got down to the other end. That said, it was a good effort in a tough situation and its encouraging to see Pune using some new faces with eyes on next year's season already, I'd argue that at times the management have persisted with some of the failing overseas players when more changes would have been good to see.
Shaun Tait - 4-0-13-3
Rajasthan's comprehensive win was thanks largely to their brilliant performance with the ball and in the field having lost the toss, led impressively by spearhead Tait who I've been calling out for in the Royals side all year, honest! There was no real evidence for his nickname today as 'The Wild Thing' was extremely accurate, not hit for a single boundary all day, and had batsmen hopping around due to his pace as per usual. You could see the Ganguly wicket coming a mile away as a bouncer was simply too quick for him, as expected given that he barely plays any professional cricket these days, and then sent back 2 other experienced domestic players in Uthappa and Manhas. A more consistent, but equally menacing, Shaun Tait would be the dream for any captain to throw the ball to and Dravid had a real luxury on his hands today. Tait would have been a dead-cert for MoM were it not far the incredible innings played by his compatriot.
Shane Watson - 4-0-28-0, 90* from 51 balls & MoM
Watson's performance with the ball was fairly ordinary and disciplined but his knock was anything but. Given Pune's low total of 125/6 all it was going to take was a breezy cameo from someone to make the chase very manageable for RR, but Watson's stunning performance went far beyond this, scoring 90 of the 126 runs scored! When Rahane fell Pune had a sniff at 4/1 but Watson decided to play a few shots to keep them well and truly on the back foot. He gets a big stride in early on so that anything pitched up can be walloped back over mid on's head but is equally well set up to rock back when the bowler drops short to pull savagely through the leg side, he hits the ball as hard as anyone in world cricket. Pune managed just the 5 fours and 2 sixes all innings and Watson made a mockery of their efforts by hitting 10 boundaries and 4 maximums of his own, astonishing ball striking on a surface on which everyone else had struggled. Such is his power that he was able to muscle short balls from the spinners over the head of the man at long-on, just one of many brutal shots in an unbelievable innings. A huge asset to Rajasthan who look a different side with him and Tait in their line-up.
PUNE - I think the main issue for Pune this season has been the top order batting, who have been inconsistent all year, Ryder the perfect example as he is fallen for single digit scores 6 times in 9 innings. Arguably the key reason for this instability is that of Ganguly, Pune are desperate to keep him in the side due to his skills as a captain but his understandably scratchy batting (it must be remembered that he practically came out of retirement to help out PWI) has meant he's floated all around the order as have the rest. With the stronger sides, the likes of Delhi and Kolkata, you know exactly the make-up of the top order but the likes of Clarke, Uthappa, Ganguly, Pandey and Smith have been used all over the place for PWI. Its been a tough year for Pune with the financial difficulties of Sahara that prompted them to miss out on the auctions and this instability has also been evident in the cricket they've played.
But its not all doom and gloom for Pune fans! Fingers crossed that Yuvraj will return next year, we all wish him well in his recovery, and this could relieve Ganguly of his playing capacity to play an advisory role, which his excellent cricketing brain but weary body is much more suited to. No doubt there'll be well laid down plans in the coming months in relation to whats needed to improve the squad at next year's auction. In the meantime there are still 3 games to look forward to, I'm hoping to see some of the lesser used players get a go to stake a claim for next year, the likes of Tamim Iqbal, Ferguson and Shrikant Wagh. I'll be there in my Pune shirt cheering the side on, hopefully they'll end the losing streak as soon as possible!
Deccan vs Punjab
Much like Pune, Deccan produced a poor display, with not a single performance of note (I looked long and hard before deciding that none of their players merited much of a mention!). Punjab were good again as they put on the ideal 20/20 performance, scoring a healthy total of 170/5 and then defending it with ease, jumping up the table into 5th with as good a chance as any of the chasing teams of taking that crucial 4th spot.
Mandeep Singh - 75 from 48 balls & MoM
A serious contender for the competition's rising star award, Mandeep Singh is quickly becoming one of my favorite players to watch, incredible to think he's just 20 given how composed he is. He raced along during the first 6 overs, a period that his natural timing is highly suited to, as he reached 29 from 20 balls. He got stuck into the Pratap Singh's short bowling early on, carving a terrific upper cut over point for a 6 as well as well as a lofted cover drive and a pull shot that both went for boundaries to showcase his array of shots. At times this season he's got starts and then fallen when trying to over-hit the ball, but today's evidence would indicate that he's learning from his mistakes as he continued to caress the ball around when the field was dropped back, he hit one gorgeous lofted drive over the bowler's head for a one bounce that may well have been the shot of the day (pictured below). This innings got him into the top 10 run scorers for this year, 8th with 359 @ 29.9 and a S/R of 124.66, and I hope goes from strength to strength, perhaps international recognition awaits in the coming years.
Praveen Kumar - 4-0-15-2
A consistent performer for Punjab, one of few experienced domestic players in their side, Kumar produced another high quality display of new ball bowling. Both his wickets were sheer quality, not as a result of the batsman slogging, with movement in the air and off the seam producing a couple of edges behind the stumps. PK loves to move the ball away from left handers and this accounted for Dhawan early on and later Sangakarra, helped by a great one handed take from Saini. There's not much better to watch in cricket than a bowler in perfect control of a swinging ball and Kumar certainly does this, able to move it both ways at will which is a skill any bowler would love to have.
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