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Narine gives KKR the X factor: Gavaskar

The winning streak of Gujarat team has been halted and the Bangalore team is having an up and down tournament.

Both these teams face off on Sunday and will try to wrest the initiative and get back to winning ways. Bangalore defended a total against the Pune team and thus became the only team to do so twice so far in the tournament.

So far teams chasing have won most games as the pitches have played true and not deteriorated at all. It is a tribute to the curators that despite all the heat humidity and water issues they have produced such magnificent pitches where teams batting second also have had no problems.

The spinners therefore have not been as dominating in the tournament as in the past where the ball has started to turn in the first few overs itself.

The teams that are doing well are those whose openers are batting for the bulk of the overs. When that happens not only is one end taken care of but there is also a well set batsman batting for most of the innings and that is a huge plus. Lions have not quite got the runs from McCullum as they are hoping for as the Kiwi star has perished looking to slog from the first over itself.

When he gets going and with the kind of form Aaron Finch is in the Gujarat team will have a huge score on the board.

Raina as is his wont, is batting superbly and the Gujarat team knows that against the star studded batting line-up of the Bangalore team they need to put up a big score on the board to challenge the likes of Kohli, de Villiers.

Both these batsmen are in sublime touch so much so that even their hardest hits look like caresses to the boundary. Chris Gayle when he joins the team will want to celebrate being a father with a massive one so its not going to get easy for the bowlers now.

Pune have made a slow start and like teams that struggle with their bowling line-up are not able to defend totals. They too opted to chase against the Bangalore team but found that they ran out of steam in the batting too. they will have to lift their game considerably to stay in contention for a place in the semis.

The Kolkata team is being led from the front by skipper Gautam Gambhir who is having a purple patch with the bat. Gone is the uncertainty and tentativeness that was seen last season and what one sees now is positive footwork and a determination to stay right till the end which is working wonders for the team.

With Uthappa continuing to be the boss in this format of the game they are well served at the top of the order. Narine coming back in the team has also given them that X factor for he bowls not only economically but also takes wickets which we all know is the best dot ball of them all.

It promises to be a Super Sunday.

Source: PMG



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