Bulls need to buck losing trend

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Winless Deccan Chargers will look to breathe life into their IPL-5 campaign when they take on Pune Warriors at the Subroto Roy Sahara Stadium here on Thursday.

Luck hasn’t really gone the 2009 IPL champions’ way this season and have often been found at the receiving end of singular performances by opposition players.

But there’s no doubting the fact that the Chargers have been largely listless, despite a capable opening pair in Shikhar Dhawan and skipper Kumar Sangakkara, and among the most lethal pacers in the competition, South African Dale Steyn, in their ranks.

Chargers opener Shikhar Dhawan is only batsman to register two fifties in five games and the lack of support to Steyn from the other end was visible when Chargers failed to defend a mammoth total of 196 against Rajasthan Royals.

Thursday though, offers a chance for the tourists to right the wrongs, and they couldn’t have hoped for a better host.

The Warriors are strong, but have been inconsistent, and they would be deflated from the eight-wicket loss on Tuesday to Delhi Daredevils.

Despite skipper Sourav Ganguly’s talismanic presence, most of Warriors’ victories till now have been fashioned by three players – batsmen Jesse Ryder, Steven Smith and pacer Ashok Dinda.

Dinda has bagged eight wickets and holds an economy rate of under six runs per over (5.94) in the five matches he has played this season.

In his absence, the experienced duo of paceman Ashish Nehra and spinner Murali Kartik would have to take on the responsibility.

The Deccan have the potential to match up and even overwhelm Pune, but they will need a collective effort.

A lot more is expected from Cameron White, Daniel Christian and JP Duminy.

Key player : Deccan Chargers Shikhar Dhawan

He has carried the batting burden of the Chargers quite well so far, and would look to carry on in the same vein.

His strokeplay has not only helped his team, but also done a world of good to his confidence, having been accused in the past of throwing away good starts.

Key player : Pune Warriors Manish Pandey

There’s no doubting Manish Pandey’s talent, but the Karnataka batsman has not been able to perform as well as Robin Uthappa.

He was in brilliant touch with his 56-ball 80 against Delhi Daredevils and would hope his run-less streak has ended for good.