Pune Warriors - Indian Premier League 5 – Team Assessment
Starting with the costliest franchise of the Indian Premier League, Pune Warriors finished bottom after the league phase of the competition. While few gave them a chance to make headways, it was still surprising to see them fade away following an impressive start to the campaign which saw them win three of their first four matches.
Their preparations had dealt a blow after http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Yuvraj-Singh-c98364, their marquee player, was forced to sit out owing to illness – leaving the owners to protest the imbalanced nature of the auctions.
However, in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sourav-Chandidas-Ganguly-c90746, they had a tailor-made stand-in, who could be an inspiration for any young cricketer. He managed to assemble a squad, which on its day could surprise any of the top team.
Top players -
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Robin-Uthappa-c2356 were the mainstay of the lineup. The former was arguably the team’s best player, showing agility in the field, while contributing heavily with the bat, especially in the death overs. He scored 362 runs in 15 matches, averaging 40.22, along with a strike rate of 135.58.
Uthappa was their top scorer this season, the only player from the Pune http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Warriors-c861 to notch up over 400 runs this season. However, his performances were inconsistent while his wicket-keeping also left a lot to be desired.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Allan-Anthony-Donald-c43680, and was indeed the team’s top bowler, despite featuring in just 7 games with injuries playing a major part. He collected 9 wickets at impressive economy rate of 7.04, and showed genuine pace.
While http://www.senore.com/Cricket/A-Nehra-c873 remained the team’s top-wicket taker, claiming 11, his season will always be remembered for his failure to defend 24 off 6 against Royal Challengers Bangalore. However, he was impressive at the backend of the competition but his economy rate was always going to be a major worry for the side.
Disappointment and Joy
Having promised so much at the start, Warriors will be disappointed to finish the season with nine consecutive losses – the most in any IPL season. It further culminated in undue pressure hurled at Ganguly, with many claiming youngsters should be given a regular run in.
To an extent, Dada had done little to avoid such criticism, with the only highlight being his match-winning performance against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Delhi-c780 Daredevils, proving handy with both bat and ball.
Also the induction of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Clarke-c1978 failed to spurn the team on, with the Australian Skipper having little impact since joining IPL after an impressive stint with the national team.
The major highlight for the team is the overwhelming support they managed to garnish at home, and even away to an extent. The crowd has backed their team wholeheartedly and must be given credit.
Final Assessment
The team’s think tank has plenty to ponder, following two successive disappointing IPL campaigns. The return of Yuvraj next season will be pleasing, while the team will need to invest in some quality, proven overseas player, while would also do good if they manage to lure a class all-rounder - as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AD-Mathews-c913 are both prone to injury.
For now, as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/LN-Onyango-c1844 puts it, the team should not dwell over their failures.
"Any post-mortem that needs to be done should be done after some time," Ganguly said. "Right now, the boys need to get away from here and go back to their respective homes. It's very hard for them too. They have been selected to win matches and that hasn't happened. It's a new franchise and things will only get better from here on. We need to look at a lot of things like team selection."
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