Pune Warriors India registered their first win of IPL 6 by beating Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets. Aaron Flinch batted brilliantly along with Robin Uthappa while Yuvraj Singh and Rahul Sharma were amongst the wicket takers for their side. On the other hand, Rahul Dravid and James Faulkner tried their best for Rajasthan Royals but could not steer their team to victory.
Here we bring before you the hits and flops from the match.
HITS
Rahul Dravid: Rahul Dravid played brilliantly to get 54 runs off 48 balls. He played his role of sheath anchor really well but his teammates failed to give him good company and as a result Rajasthan scored some 20-30 runs short.
Rahul Sharma: Rahul Sharma bowled exceedingly well against Rajasthan Royals (RR) and picked up couple of wickets in his four overs. He gave away just 16 runs and kept bowling aggressively to keep the run rate down. His ability to keep the batsmen quiet helped his team in restricting RR to a low total of 145.
Yuvraj Singh: Yuvi is back to form and looked stunning both with bat and ball. He scored 28 runs and chipped in with couple of wickets in his comeback match against RR. He gave away just 27 runs in his quota of four overs. His contribution to team’s success has always been a deciding factor and Pune would hope him to continue with his brilliant form in the next match against Mumbai Indians.
Robin Uthappa: Uthappa played a blistering knock of 32 runs off just 16 balls. His ability to play those straight sixes makes him a very tough batsman to bowl and absence of Shaun Tait gave him that opportunity to take on bowling attack of Rajasthan Royals.
Aaron Finch: Finch smacked the Rajasthan Royals in his debut appearance for Pune Warriors. He scored 64 runs off 53 balls and made sure that his side breaks the 11-match losing streak. Finch was in terrific form in Big Bash and is now ready to take Mumbai Indians.
James Faulkner: Faulkner was in brilliant with both bat and the ball. He scored 19 runs off 14 balls in last four overs and he bowled an exceptional spell which earned him two wickets for just 17 runs in his four overs.
FLOPS
S Sreesanth: Sreesanth went for 38 runs in the 16 balls that he bowled in the match which resulted in a flying start for Pune Warriors. Though he was fine with his line and length, Finch and Uthappa were too good on the day and hitting evrything coming in their way. Sreesanth should have tried some slower ones and Yorkers but failed to apply and was the biggest failure for RR in this match.
Kushal Perera: He got out on the first ball of the innings that was bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. It was for the second time in this edition that he fell so cheaply. He wasted the chance he got because of the injury to Shane Watson.
Stuart Binny: Binny should have played sensibly as there was no need of accelerating the runs at that time. His dismissal got Dravid into pressure and he lost his wicket. It’s good to play attacking cricket but he needs to understand the situation first and then take the risks.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar: Kumar got smacked for 41 runs in his quota of four overs. His ability is to swing the ball but in T20 he needs to add Yorker and slower ones in his armoury. He just bowled the the length balls and kept conceding boundaries.
Angelo Mathews: Mathews has failed to lead his side by example. His individual performance has been below par till now. He needs to maintain a balance between his and team’s performance or else IPL is a long tournament to suatain. He should select his team on its strength rather than on opposition’s weaknesses.
By Amit Chopra
Indian Sports News Network