Pune batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Robin-Uthappa-c2356 cites loss of quick wickets for defeat against Deccan Chargers
Pune Warriors’ batsman, Robin Uthappa, cited loss of three quick wickets as the major cause of his team’s embarrassing six-wicket defeat to Deccan Chargers in an Indian Premier League clash on Monday, May 16, 2011.
In the 62nd encounter of the lucrative Twenty20 league, the Warriors posted a challenging score of 136 after being asked to bat first by DC.
Although, Jesse Ryder and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Manish-Pandey-c74183 provided their team with a reasonable start, the middle-order batsmen failed to carry the momentum forward.
The Warriors lost their three important batsmen, Manish Pandey, Uthappa and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mithun-Manhas-c76414 at the same score of 45.
In response, Kumar Sangakkara and men achieved the target credibly with four balls to spare.
Uthappa believes that losing three crucial wickets within a span of just seven balls was the turning point of the game.
"Yes, I think immediately after Power Play losing those three wickets to the spinners made the difference. We could not capitalise on the good start we got," said Uthappa who got out after adding just four runs to the total.
However, he gave full credit to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mitchell-Marsh-c1974, who scored crucial 37 runs to take Pune Warriors to a fighting total against the Deccan side.
Uthappa admitted that his batsmen have not been able to build partnerships throughout the tournament and that is the prime reason behind Pune’s inconsistent performance in their debut IPL campaign.
Meanwhile, the classy Indian batsman spelled out that even though his team is out of the race for play offs, the Warriors would like to win the remaining two games and avoid finishing the tournament with a wooden spoon.
"We need to play for pride. We have been together for 2 and a-half months, the domestic players. Definitely, we would play for pride. We would not want to be there at the bottom of the table. The season is not over yet. If we can finish on a high we would
be better psychologically for the next season," the 25-year-old batsman added.
Uthappa further urged his batsmen to give a supporting hand to the Pune bowlers and come up with an improved performance in the next couple of games.
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