Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh has no clue what is the reason behind Pune Warriors India unending misery in the IPL 4 as they suffered seventh consecutive defeat and their playoffs are almost over. Pune lost by 21 runs to MI and continue to be at the bottom of the points table.

The only satisfaction for Yuvraj from Wednesday’s game was that he dismissed in-form Mumbai Indians skipper Sachin Tendulkar and the outstanding performance of leg-spinner Rahul Sharma, who gave away just seven runs in four overs and two wickets. “I got Sachin out. That was great but unfortunately lost the game. I really don’t know what’s happening. I think we bowled decent enough. May be 10 runs extra but 160 was gettable,” Yuvraj Singh said after the match, and he added “We played too many dot balls. You need power hitters in the end to finish the game. Unfortunately we got too bogged down. We have nothing to lose now; so I am sure we will cut somebody (some team) out.”

Mumbai still leads the table with 14 points and a net run rate of +0.635, but for Tendulkar is job is not yet complete. “Yes, knocking at the door but the door hasn’t opened yet. We would love to get in,” he said when asked about their almost certain place in this league. Tendulkar said there was still room for improvement in his side and also praised Rahul, who was adjudged man of the match for his brilliant bowling.

“We could always do better. I thought Rahul Sharma bowled brilliantly. He has bowled a few good spells and this was one of them. Suman and Pollard had done the best. If we go too hard, we can get out for 95 also. We have to decide based on the track,” he said.

Tendulkar was satisfied that his move to promote Suman up the order, yielded desired result. Suman played a fiery 16-ball 36 to lead the team’s recovery after a not so good start. “Suman batted really well. It wasn’t wild slogging; it was clean hitting. I am happy that I took the decision to promote him ahead of Pollard and Symonds. We should continue to play like this, the rest will follow,” Tendulkar said.

Man-of-the-Match Rahul is eyeing for a berth in the national cricket team after putting up yet another good performance. “I vary my pace and bounce I extract is my key because of my height. The figures look good. It’s difficult to give seven runs in a over leave alone in four (overs). “I am happy. I have to continue to work hard – I have done well in the domestic cricket- and I want to turn out for India. God willing and with blessing of my parents and well-wishers I will get there,” the tall leg-spinner. Saurav Ganguly has been recently signed up for PWI but the team is at a stage of being knocked out from this league 4. Many experts say the inclusion of Ganguly was a big mistake that PWI and Ganguly had made. But its upto the player and the player has all the rights whether to play or not.

Tags: Cricket, Indian Premier League, IPL 2011, IPL 4, Pune Warriors India, PWI, Yuvraj Singh