The Match: The fifth game of the Indian Premier League this season will be played between Sahara Pune Warriors and Kings XI Punjab and it will be played at the Dr. DY Patil in Navi Mumbai. This is a home game for the Pune side.
How the two teams match up: This is the first time that Pune will be playing in the Indian Premier League, after they became the ninth team to be bought over from the auction last year. On the other hand, Punjab showed much promise in the first year by getting to the semi-final, lost to Chennai in that game, and since then have been grappling with poor form – they have yet to get to the semi-final after that.
Ground Conditions: It is clearly one of the best cricket grounds in the country and it is a surprise that Dr. DY Patil Stadium is not an international venue yet. The ball will come on to the bat from the word go and one can expect a high-scoring game here, unless the team batting first messes up in its batting.
The Teams: The toast of the nation, Yuvraj Singh, will be the captain of the Pune Warriors and it is ironical that they will be playing against a side that he had captained for two seasons before being unceremoniously shown the exit door. The side seems to have covered all their bases with their Indian and foreign counterparts in both the batting and the bowling departments.
Robin Uthappa should bat in the top three, even as Jesse Ryder will be eyeing on the opening slot. Yuvraj, himself, should come in at the number four slot while the bowling will depend heavily on Murali Kartik, Jerome Taylor and Nathan McCullum.
On the other hand, Punjab will be led by Adam Gilchrist. Gilchrist has had the experience of leading the side to a win in the second season and hence will know what it takes to win the tournament. The side was left gasping for all-round options when both Stuart Broad and Dimitri Mascarenhas were ruled out due to injuries and Ryan McLaren and David Miller.
Players to look out for: The Pune batting is rather strong and it will be interesting to see how Uthappa goes about his business after an exciting previous season. If Praveen Kumar has recovered from his injury, he will look to hit his straps rather quickly for Punjab.
Prediction: On paper, Pune seems to have a better squad, but that is hardly a criteria to decide which team will win this game – especially given that Yuvraj will look to prove a point or two to the opposition.