Pune Warriors v Kolkata Knight Riders – Players Comparison – Part 1: Knight Riders clearly the better team in all the departments of the game
Pune Warriors and Kolkata http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820.
The Warriors are already out of the competition and have no chance of qualifying for the play-offs. However, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Yuvraj-Singh-c98364 and his men would be looking to prove a point or two.
Knight Riders on the other hand, have everything to play for as they are at the fourth position in the points table with 14 points after 12 matches and would love to beat Pune in order to enhance their chances of qualifying for the next stage.
Considering the current form of both the teams, Kolkata is surely going to start as favourites in this encounter as they are a much more balanced lot in all departments of the game as compared to their opponents.
Both teams have big names in their top order but Kolkata’s batsmen have been more consistent in current season. The likes of Jacques Kallis, Eoin http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Manoj-Tiwary-c1890 form a formidable batting unit and all of them have contributed for their team in the current season.
Morgan has not been at his best in IPL so far and a player of his class would be hungry to stamp his authority in the league before the end of the season. He is a quality player and possesses the ability to change the complexion of the game single-handedly.
Same has been the case with Pathan, he has looked very destructive on occasions but the Knight Riders want him to be at his sublime best at the end of the season.
Pune on the other hand also have a number of extra-ordinary stroke-players in the shape of Jesse Ryder, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Robin-Uthappa-c2356. All of them have proved their worth over the years as quality cricketers but they have failed to gel well as a batting unit this season.
Warriors are playing in the IPL for the first time this year and may be this is the prime reason that Yuvraj and company have not been able to develop a winning combination.
Warriors do not have anything to lose now in the current season as they don’t have any chance of qualifying for the play-offs and the feeling of ‘nothing to lose’ could make them a very dangerous unit.
Ganguly was not bought by any of the franchises during the auction but he was signed up by the Warriors during the later stages of the league. He played a solid little cameo against Deccan Chargers in his first appearance but could not open his account in the next encounter.
To be continued in Part 2 …
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