GEOFF MARSH AND YUVRAJ SINGH DEMAND MORE FROM PUNE WARRIORS



Pune Warriors’ Coach Geoff Marsh has stipulated more from his dazzling batting line-up while heading into Friday’s Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter against Bangalore.

Pune started their IPL campaign in style with victories over Kings XI Punjab and Kochi Tuskers but after those wins, Pune have taken the back seat by losing four consecutive matches, which leave Marsh’s army decayed at second last position in the 10-team standings.

However, the Kiwis' left-handed batsman, Jesse Ryder has remained a relatively consistent force at the top of the thud. The habitual failure of Graeme Smith, Tim Paine, Mohnish Mishra, Mithun Manhas and Manish Pandey have far too often left Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa to take the burden throughout the immensity of the innings.

A veer of early wickets, once against Mumbai and twice against Chennai, has left Captain and the hard hitter Yuvraj shepherding the weaker tail-enders rather than manipulating the willow, which has predictably led to imperfect scores from the PW.

"Our batting is letting us down. We have stopped getting away to starts. We have lost four wickets inside the first six overs and we have been making the same mistakes over and over again. We will have a meeting about that but we have to be competitive," said Marsh.

The coach went on to add, "Because we have lost four wickets early we are not going into the last eight overs with wickets in hand. We have Yuvraj or Robin batting out there, with five or six wickets down. You then can't afford to lose any more wickets. What it boils down to is, again, getting off to a good start."

Pune were the frontrunners through the opening stages of the tournament, but now they are the backbenchers athwart a very cutthroat project. Pune remain in controversy for a semifinal place regardless, due to the prolonged nature of the event.

The team still have to play eight matches in the tournament, starting with Friday’s clash against the Royal Challengers. Marsh is self-assured that his men have sufficient fight in them to eventually secure a berth with the table toppers Chennai and Mumbai.

Geoff Marsh concluded that the whole competition is equally open at the moment for every team. However, they need to focus on winning the next game and perform better at the top. If they start winning, they have got eight games to go, so they have every chance to be one of the top four teams of the competition.

Skipper Yuvraj Singh meanwhile, has praised sentiments of Marsh and asked for improvement from his charges in Bangalore.

"We have not applied ourselves with the bat. We keep making the same mistakes again and again. We have lost too many wickets at the start. We need to bounce back, we need to think about it and not make the same mistakes again and again," concluded Singh.

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ROBIN UTHAPPA LAUDS CHENNAI SUPER KINGS FIELDING

Pune Warriors India batsman Robin Uthappa termed early fall of wickets and some wonderful fielding by the opposition as the main causes of his team’s humiliating defeat to Chennai Super Kings on Monday.

The dashing batsman lauded the Kings for their fantastic work in the field and cited fielding as the key difference between the two sides on Monday.

The Super Kings thrashed Pune Warriors comprehensively by 25 runs in the 29^th game of the Indian Premier League at their own backyard, the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Uthappa admitted that the Chennai outfit outclassed them in every aspect of the game. He added that CSK played better cricket and deserved to win on the day.

“CSK fielded out of their skin and credit must be given to them. When we batted, we lost two wickets - Pandey and myself in quick succession. That pushed us back pretty badly. We needed to build a partnership,” Uthappa said.

Uthappa further explained that the Kings batted excellently and the 20-25 extra runs in the end overs proved crucial.

Although the burly Karnataka batsman defended his captain Yuvraj Singh’s decision to ball first after winning the toss, Uthappa said that the batsmen should have come up with a better performance.

Uthappa, however, asked his teammates not to take the defeat to heart. He expressed that nothing is lost because the team has the capability to roar back into the tournament in style.

Acknowledging the fact that the team needs to improve, Uthappa stated, “We want to up our game in all three departments. Our batsmen have their task cut out. We still have nine matches to go. We will definitely peak at the right time.”

The classy batsman stressed that the players have to turn the tables around, as the Warriors cannot afford to lose too many matchers in a row.

Meanwhile, Uthappa did not rule out the fatigue factor for senior players in the IPL, as they are coming back from the ICC World Cup 2011 after playing almost two months of competitive cricket.

With three defeats in the competition, Pune Warriors are now scheduled to lock their horns once again with the defending champions Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday.

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YUVRAJ SINGH WANTS TO LEAD PUNE WARRIORS INDIA WITH A RELAXED MIND

Stylish Punjab batsman and Pune Warriors India captain Yuvraj Singh wants to lead the debutant Indian Premier League franchise from Pune with a relaxed mind.

Yuvraj conceded that he had been under immense pressure while leading Kings XI Punjab in the last two IPL seasons and that affected his individual performance adversely.

He said that this time the easy approach has worked for him as his newly built Pune side won its maiden IPL game against Kings XI Punjab by 7 wickets.

“The first two years that I captained Kings XI Punjab, I took a lot of pressure on myself and was getting distracted a lot on the field,” said Yuvraj. “This time I just thought I'll be calm and relaxed and that worked for me. It was a good toss to lose; we bowled wicket to wicket, back of a length, and got the results.”

Kings XI Punjab, Yuvraj’s previous IPL team, seemed completely out of flair and its captain Adam Gilchristdescribed the seven-wicket defeat as “poor all-round performance.”

He was also unhappy with the butterfingered show of fielding as the side failed to capitalise on the chances offered by Yuvraj Singh and a belligerent Robin Uthappa.

“It was a poor all-round performance,” said the former Australia wicketkeeper. “It started with me in the first over and that set the tone for the innings. A couple of catches could have been taken and that would have left them at five for 70 odd. We just weren't good enough.”

Most of the players Kings XI Punjab bought this time are new and Gilchrist said that the team needs more time to settle down.

He further added that they were quite comfortable coming into the game but now they would go back and make a plan for the upcoming games as it is a lengthy tournament and they still have long way to go.

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