The two teams in this edition of the Indian Premier League, the Kochi Tuskers and the Pune Warriors will play in the 10th game of the tournament at the Dr DY Patil in Navi Mumbai. This is a home game for the Warriors at their adopted home.
Pune v Kochi odds:
Pune (8/11 at
SkyBet) had wasted no time in disposing the Kings XI Punjab off in the first game that they had played in. Before going into the game, a lot had been said about the might of their batting line-up but it was their underrated bowling that took the cake. The DY Patil track allowed bounce and a bit of lateral movement and that helped the likes of little-known Shrikant Wagh and Alfonso Thomas.
Kochi (6/5 at
BetFred), on the other hand, while not exactly disgracing themselves with their performance, were found short on tactics. The quick start was not taken advantage of while the bowling of Raiphi Gomez at a crucial time in the game would not have endeared the captain to the Tuskers fans.
Ground and Pitch:
There will be bounce and significant carry on this pitch, which should make it interesting for not only the Warriors pace attack but also the likes of S Sreesanth and RP Singh from the Kochi team.
Player News:
The Pune Warriors do not have much of a reason to fiddle with a winning combination that ran amuck on the Kings side. Manish Pandey, who should have walked into the playing eleven in the last game missed out due to an injury and Mithun Manhas (6/1 at
Boylesports), his replacement made sure that he grabbed the opportunity with vigour. If Pandey gets fit, it will put the think-tank in a quandary.
Of course, there was Graeme Smith (4/1 at
bet365) who failed to score, continuing with his average run of form since the start of the World Cup and Jesse Ryder (7/2 at
SkyBet) who did not convert his start into something bigger. Yuvraj Singh (9/2 at
bet365) managed to survive a dropped catch to finish off the proceedings in the end and could be the key to the chances of the team. This is simply because one has already seen that the middle overs are the most difficult to score and Yuvraj is coming off a man of the series award in the World Cup.
Kochi had begun well against Bangalore through Brendon McCullum (7/2 at
SkyBet) and VVS Laxman (9/2 at
Coral) – who is incidentally their batting coach as well – but failed to capitalise. Jayawardene pottered around for his run-a-ball innings and it was only a final assault from Ravindra Jadeja (9/1 at
bet365) that took the side closer to the total they needed to get.
Jayawardene will need to rediscover that touch which had seen him get a century in the World Cup final to avoid the momentum-stalling in those crucial middle overs.
Prediction:
Pune will be favourites to win this one as they will be to have the highest opening partnership (5/6 at
SkyBet)
