IPL preview: Rajasthan Royals vs Pune Warriors India

Pune Warriors India will hope to break the five match losing streak and get their IPL campaign back on track as they take on a rejuvenated Rajasthan Royals on Sunday.

With just four points in their kitty from seven outings, Pune — the most expensive team in the IPL —face a must win situation to keep their chances afloat of making it to the playoffs.

After the two initial games, which they won convincingly, Pune's confidence at the moment will be at the lowest ebb.

Except skipper Yuvraj Singh and Jesse Ryder, none of their batsmen have proved their worth. Robin Uthappa has managed to get good starts but failed to carry on and play a big innings.

Injury to South African batsman Graeme Smith has left a void in the batting order which players like Mithun Manhas and Nathan McCullum have failed to fill.

The bowling department looks pretty decent and has been right on to the mark throughout the tournament. In Alphonso Thomas and Jerome Taylor Pune have a lethal pace attack along with talented Rahul Sharma and veteran Murali Kartik, who are quite good with the old ball.

Rajasthan, on the other hand, are looking to keep the winning momentum intact and after their seven-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in the last match the confidence will be at its peak.

They are the perfect example of a team that doesn't boast big names but have the potential to take down any big on their day.

In legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne they have the perfect leader, who instills confidence in his youth brigade.
Johan Botha, Shane Watson and Ross Taylor are other big names, who have performed consistently for Rahasthan.

The uncapped players like Siddharth Trivedi, Ashok Menaria and Amit Singh have also chipped in with useful contribution from time to time to help Royals bounce back after three consecutive losses away from home.

Teams: (from)
Rajasthan: Shane Warne (C), Swapnil Asnodkar, Stuart Binny, Johan Botha, Deepak Chahar, Ankeet Chavan, Aakash Chopra, Aditya Dole, Nayan Doshi, Rahul Dravid, Samad Fallah, Faiz Fazal, Ashok Menaria, Sumit Narwal, Jacob Oram, Pankaj Singh, Amit Paunikar, Ajinkya Rahane, Abhishek Raut, Dinesh Salunkhe, Pinal Shah, Amit Singh, Shaun Tait, Ross Taylor, Siddharth Trivedi, Shane Watson and Dishant Harendra Yagnik.

Pune: Yuvraj Singh (C), Robin Uthappa (wk), Murali Kartik, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Deeraj Jadhav, Eklavya Dwivedi, Ganesh Gaikwad, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Harshad Khadiwale, Kamran Khan, Mithun Manhas, Mohnish Mishra, Rahul Sharma, Sachin Rana, Shrikant Wagh, Shrikant Mundhe, Imtiyaz Ahmed, Jesse Ryder, Graeme Smith, Wayne Parnell, Alphonso Thomas, Tim Paine, Callum Ferguson, Mitchell Marsh, Jerome Taylor, James Faulkner.