The meteoric rise of Pune !

Nobody believed when cricketing pundits and writers extolled Pune as the team to be beaten !

Yesterday, the strength of Pune was in full view. Her bowlers restricted hapless Punjab to 111 and the match was over !

Their pace bowlers Parnell, Wagh and Thomas bowled superbly and Punjab were 40 odd for six.

Earlier Shastri opined that the New Bombay track is more or less a green top and it was a good toss to lose !

So Yuvraj was lucky to lose it ! The pitch aided the swing bowlers and it was a procession of batsmen to the paviliion !

Gilchrist swung at a ball from Thomas and was caught behind. Shaun Marsh was out to Wagh. Abhishek Nayar, Valthaty and Dinesh Karthik followed. Only Ryan McLaren played brilliantly and was 51 not out. Had it not been for him, Punjab would have been bowled out for less than 100 !

Even though P Kumar accounted for Smith for a blob, 111 was not a defendable total. Jesse Ryder was out to McLaren for 17 . Then Manhas (35 ), Yuvraj ( 21 not out ) and Uthappa ( 22 not out ) took the Warriors home !

Yuvraj was all praise for the Pune bowlers.

"Nice to get a first win. Our bowlers picked up early wickets and set the momentum. It was a good toss to lose and we bowled wicket to wicket according to our plans. Happy that we got the results," India's formidable all rounder said.

"First two years when I was captain of Kings, I took too much pressure and got distracted on the field.'

He also extolled Mithun Manhas.

"Mithun, I always back him, unfortunate that he has not played for India, but he did well for us on Sunday," said the Indian all rounder, who became the first player to take 15 wickets and score more than 300 runs in the World Cup.

On the contrary, Gilchrist was disappointed.

"Poor all-round performance and it all started with my dismissal in the first over," he said.

He praised McLaren for his brilliant fifty.

"Ryan McLaren and Chawla had a good partnership. McLaren was outstanding. If we had them five down for 70-odd, who knows. We didn't step up at all today but long tournament to go."

Srikant Wagh, Man of the Match, said that he felt the immense pressure of the IPL match.

"I have been working hard but I was a bit nervous. DY Patil is good place to bowl on. There is good bounce in the wicket, Alfonso and Parnell, we bowled as a unit," he said.