Daijiworld Media Network

Pune, May 9: Welcome to the match between Pune and Kolkata. Pune are in last position and are in serious threat of ending up with the wooden spoon in this edition. Kolkata, on the other hand, are reeling after their heavy loss to Mumbai. Will Pune spoil their party or will Kolkata regroup and mount a fightback?

Kolkata have won the toss and elected to bat.

Finch: 'We have made some improvements in the last few games. The results have not gone our way but our execution has improved. The owners have put a lot of faith in us and we have to play well. Kolkata have a mathematical chance and we will look to run it today. Parvez Rasool replaces Rahul Sharma.'

Gambhir: 'We are not thinking about what other teams are doing. We have to play to the best of our ability. I have always maintained that playing for Kolkata is maximum motivation. This surface is unpredictable but today it looks good. We will bat. Ryan ten Doeschate replaces Ryan McLaren while Manoj Tiwary replaces Debabrata Das. We have to improve in our batting.'

Teams:

Kolkata (Playing XI): Manvinder Bisla(w), Gautam Gambhir(c), Jacques Kallis, Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwary, Eoin Morgan, Ryan ten Doeschate, Rajat Bhatia, Iqbal Abdulla, Sunil Narine, Lakshmipathy Balaji

Pune (Playing XI): Robin Uthappa, Aaron Finch(c), Udit Birla, Yuvraj Singh, Mitchell Marsh, Angelo Mathews, Mahesh Rawat(w), Parvez Rasool, Wayne Parnell, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Krishnakant Upadhyay


Match Preview:

Kolkata will go into their next away game against Pune knowing that they are all but out of the this year's edition. They have just 4 wins from 12 games and only have a mathematical chance of making it to the qualifiers, given that other results pan out their way. The pitch in Pune will be on the slower side and might help their spinners. Pune on the other hand have nothing to lose. They are at the bottom of the table and this is just one of the final opportunities to prove that they probably aren't as bad as the current standings show them to be. In a nut-shell, this game is what is termed as a dead rubber in the current scheme of things.

Pune

One of the tweets doing the rounds sums Pune's performance neatly: 'If this tournament featured games with 15 overs a side, Pune would have been at the top of the table'. They have done quite a lot of things correctly and have even beaten the current table toppers Chennai in their den. Their only other win came against another top ranked team, Rajasthan, in Pune. Apart from that, they were in winning positions against Punjab, Hyderabad and even Bangalore. The most prominent hole that a post-mortem report might point out is the ability to finish off games at crucial junctures. The confusions regarding the leadership were sorted out with Aaron Finch leading the side ably, but individual performances have not been up to the mark. Yuvraj Singh has been the single biggest flop show which has sort of reflected on Pune's standings. Robin Uthappa has struck form, but it has come a bit too late to be of any use to his side. As in the last game, where they gave chances to a host of unknown Indian talent, this game also might see untested players coming in. It will be interesting to see if Jammu and Kashmir spinner Parvez Rasool is given a go.

Current standing: Last in points table. 4 points from 12 games

One player to watch out for: Robin Uthappa. He has been striking the ball cleanly in the last few games

Last results: 1) Lost to Rajasthan by 5 wickets.
2) Lost to Bangalore by 17 runs
3) Lost to Chennai by 37 runs

Kolkata

Kolkata's performance this year, after winning the 5th edition, has probably been as disappointing as Yuvraj's form for Pune. They have done well in spurts, but have largely been uninspiring. It's not like they have struggled with their foreign talents. Jacques Kallis has been decent, Senanayake has done the job he has been asked of, Narine has provided them the tight overs and breakthroughs, while Morgan has finished off a few games brilliantly (and single-handedly). It's the marquee Indian players who haven't come to the party. Gambhir himself, Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwary or even L Balaji have been largely lackluster after last year's triumphal showing. The last game against Mumbai was an abject surrender with the bat after a poor effort in the field. If anything, they will aim to win the last 4 games just to prove the class and quality in their side. Probably they should think of giving foreign recruits like Ryan Ten Doeschate a go.

Current Standing: 7th in points table. 8 points from 12 games.

One player to watch out for: Sunil Narine. He has bowled well in all games, but hasn't been amongst the wickets. Expect a rich haul soon.

Last results: 1) Lost to Mumbai by 65 runs
2) Won against Rajsthan by 8 wickets.