Pune, May 18:
It will be a battle to avoid the wooden spoon when laggards Pune Warriors and Delhi Daredevils take field for one last time in the 2013 season of the Pepsi Indian Premier League, here tomorrow.
Already out of contention for a berth in the knock-out stage, the teams would play only for pride. The two bottom- placed teams have had a disastrous tournament this year and would aim to sign off on a winning note.
On the points table there is not much difference between the two teams as both have won three of their 15 matches and have six points each but Delhi are placed higher by the virtue of their net-run-rate.
Pune Warriors snapped their nine-match losing streak by stunning defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders in their previous match and they would take a lot of confidence from that win, going into this clash.
They would look to avoid finishing at the same position they held last year.
The Warriors batting fired in unison against the title holders in the previous game, as Manish Pandey (66), skipper Aaron Finch (48) and Yuvraj Singh (30) guided Pune to a competitive total of 170.
The Pune franchise would hope that the good batting show continues as throughout the series their batsmen have struggled. Barring skipper Aaron Finch, who scored three half-centuries and to some extent Robin Uthappa, other Pune batsmen have failed miserably.
The biggest disappointment has been Yuvraj Singh who has scored only 235 runs in 12 games and one would expect the explosive batsman to strike some of those big hits he is renowned for. (PTI)
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