Pune beat Kochi in thriller

Kochi's decision to bat first backfired, as Pune beat them by 4 wickets. Pune went to the top of the Points Table and Kochi finished at No 9 !

The game was a thriller, with Kochi losing 4/26 and surrendering advantage to Pune. Then Jadeja and Hodge retrieved Kochi and Kochi managed 148/8.

Like Valthaty, who finished the game for Punjab with a blistering 120 no off 63 balls, now it was the turn of Monish Mishra, who scored a fearless 37, to finish the match for Pune. Lack of penetration of the Kochi bowling was seen. Despite having a good bowling attack on paper, Kochi simply did not deliver. Nor did her batting.

It seems Mahela has not learnt his lessons. The New Bombay track is more or less a green top. Punjab were 9/4 in the last match there, batting first. It gives some help to the swing bowlers. If Kochi had taken bowling, it would have given help to Sreeshant , RP and V Kumar. The dew factor is a make or break factor. Look at the way Sachin won the toss and fielded and then chased and steered Mumbai to victory. He was 55 not out ! MI had chased twice and won. Kochi batted first twice and lost. If your bowlers cannot deliver, it is better to chase. The scoreboard pressure is only psychological. Neither Valthaty or M Mishra were bothered by target total pressure.

The minute Mahela took batting, we were surprised. The scene which came up in the mind was Punjab's 9/4 against Thomas and Wagh. Why did Mahela take batting ?

Murali and Jadeja as spinners, Sreeshant, RP and V Kumar as pacers are not bad. But they should bowl when the wickets give some help to them.

But then, all credit to Pune, as they marshalled their resources and jelled as a unit. We do not know whether they are peaking early. It may be that Kochi may peak late. But it is diffcult to see Kochi ascending to the top of the table. Kochi may not get much fanbase with such performances !

Kochi was let down by bowling in the death overs. Bram Villiers had hit three sixes off Gomez in the last match in th death. In this match, when Pune needed 20 runs off 13 balls, Rahul Sharma hammered Jadeja for a six, and Mishra hit two sixes and one four off the greatest spinner in the world, Murali. Uthappa had played a cameo, hitting 31 off 13 balls.

For Pune, Wayne Parnell bowled superbly, taking three wickets.

Unless Kochi sorts outs her problems, she is in for real trouble. She takes on the formidable Sachin's team on Friday