Pune's rue: Lack of power in Power Play

Out of the 13 games the PWI have played so far, they have failed to get past the 40-run mark six times in the Power play overs, and have crossed the 50-run mark only four times.u00a0They have batted first on seven occasions, and have been able to defend their total only three times. And in most of the cases, that has had nothing to do with their bowling.

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"We have failed to gain momentum in the first six overs," Anustup Majumdar, PWI's top scorer against Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday, admitted. "We have not got momentum in the first few overs, and hence, we have not posted totals of 150 or 160 in the last five-six games," the Bengal lad added.

They have tried almost every possible option; skipper Sourav Ganguly has batted in almost every position between No 1 and seven; from Manish Pandey to Robin Uthappa to Jesse Ryder they have tried almost every opener available, without too much of a success.

But scoring 1 for 37 - against Mumbai Indians at home last week - and then 1-35 against Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday, defies logic. "We are playing too many dot balls. When you are playing with the field restrictions, there should not be that many dot balls," Majumdar pointed out. The hosts were able to score off only 20 balls, out of the 36 they faced in the Power play period.

No wonder then, that Pune's season is even mathematically over now, with still 12 more days of league stage still to go.