Daijiworld Media Network
Cuttack, May 1: Welcome to the fixture between Hyderabad and Pune. Both teams travel to Cuttack which is the home venue for the Chargers, however, there is no doubt that Pune will garner a large amount of support owing to the presence of Sourav Ganguly. For the Chargers, the purpose of this tournament may slowly be fading away, as they see themselves at the bottom of the table with just one win.
Deccan will have to win every game from here if they are to keep themselves alive in the competition. Pune on the other hand have just slumped a little, after displaying some good form in the early stages of the tournament. The Warriors will be bolstered by the presence of Michael Clarke but it will be interesting to see how Pune rotate their foreign resources today. It has to be said that Pune start off as favourites, but if someone can support Dale Steyn and perform in a way that is even close to the pace bowler's standards, then Deccan could just spring a surpirse or two.
Deccan Chargers have won the toss and elected to bat
Sangakkara: It is hotter here in Cuttack, I don't think the weather and conditions will change much through the day. Leaving myself out was a tough decision last game but it was one that had to be made. It looks a good wicket, it might slow down later on as the game goes on. Samantarey comes in and I come in for Christian. It is a great priviledge to play in front of such good crowds.
Ganguly: We need to regain that winning form but it will happen in the tournament. We have had some rest and some time off, we did a bit of training yesterday. Clarke is a class act and he is the skipper of Australia, a very good player. I would have batted as well but it is just four overs so I don't think it will change much. Clarke comes in for
Ryder in this game and Parnell comes in for Thomas.
Teams:
Pune Warriors (Playing XI): Sourav Ganguly(c), Manish Pandey, Michael Clarke, Robin Uthappa(w), Marlon Samuels, Steven Smith, Wayne Parnell, Mithun Manhas, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Murali Kartik, Ashish Nehra
Deccan Chargers (Playing XI): Parthiv Patel(w), Shikhar Dhawan, Kumar Sangakkara(c), Cameron White, Jean-Paul Duminy, Biplab Samantray, Ankit Sharma, Ashish Reddy, Amit Mishra, Dale Steyn, Veer Pratap Singh.