Featuring best vs worst in derby clash

Yuvraj amp; Co sit eight points off leaders Mumbai before their clash at DY Patil

The ball hovered a couple of feet above the tip of Harpreet Singhs turban. For an instant,Rahul Dravid prepared to tuck his bat under his arm and trudge back to the dressing room. Murali Kartik,having completed his follow through,turned expectantly towards mid on. After a brief flurry of limbs,the ball dropped to the turf,and only Kartiks white-rimmed sunglasses spared Harpreet the full extent of a glare that might have otherwise turned him to ashes.

In just two overs,the Pune Warriors left-arm spinner had seen two catches go down. Both,as commentators like to say,should have been taken at this level of the game. Later,after coming back for his final over when Rajasthan needed 52 off 30,he bowled what was probably the worst over of his career,giving away 17 runs,sending Pune spiraling to its sixth defeat in six games.

Kartiks travails in that match and right through the season,which has so far yielded him just one wicket in six games have closely mirrored his own teams fortunes. On paper,Punes players shouldnt find themselves anchored to the bottom of the IPL table. But thanks to their inability to grasp critical chances with bat,ball and on the field thats where they sit,eight points off leaders Mumbai Indians,whom they will face in the most oxymoronic of home games at the DY Patil Stadium on Wednesday.

Skipper Yuvraj Singh contended that Punes record might not look as abysmal had they not lost the initiative so often at crucial moments. We shouldve won three of those six games, he said.

Effecting a turnaround at this stage will require almost everyone in the side to improve on their cumulative displays so far. Apart from leggie Rahul Sharma,nobody has even fully matched expectations. Alfonso Thomass efforts with the new ball have been efficient but no more. Jerome Taylor and Wayne Parnell have striven manfully without looking particularly incisive.

Jesse Ryder and Yuvraj Singh,the only two batsmen to cross 200,have had their moments. Worryingly,though,the four fifties that these two left-handers have scored between them are the only half centuries that Pune have managed in the entire tournament. Only once,in fact,have any of their other batsmen crossed 40 in the tournament Robin Uthappas 45 against Mumbai at the Wankhede. For a player who cost his franchise 2.1 million,45 isnt the most spectacular highest score to possess.

The rest of the batsmen have simply not shown up. Apart from his unbeaten 37 against Kochi,Mohnish Mishra has cobbled together 30 runs from four innings. Mithun Manhas has batted eight times for a highest score of 35 and a strike rate of less than a run a ball. Manish Pandeys return from a four-match ban has produced similarly underwhelming results.

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At this point,with a further six league games remaining,Pune cant even take solace from the old adage which says that the only direction they can go is up. Even the vague hope of a messianic entry from Sourav Ganguly will have to wait till after their match against Mumbai. For now,they will hope that someone plays one inspired innings or delivers a couple of magic deliveries.