Reed on IPL: Pune’s punishing performance

Their debut season in the Indian Premier League was one to forget. Maybe in their second the Pune Warriors will be a force to be reckoned with.

The Mumbai Indians will be there or thereabouts when the playoffs roll around. They are too strong a team not to contend, but a comprehensive loss to Sourav Ganguly’s visitors should act as a wakeup call for anyone foolish enough to believe IPL5 will be a stroll.

The absence of Sachin Tendulkar didn’t help. Forced to retire hurt on opening night, the Mumbai legend was not in the lineup for the Indians home opener. Even without him most would have viewed this as a perfect opportunity to build on the morale boosting success in Chennai.

For the second straight game Harbhajan Singh chose to field. Electing to chase worked against the defending champions so there was no reason to change the strategy in front of their own fans. The decision seemed to be sound as the Warriors toiled to a modest total.

Lasith Malinga clearly enjoys Twenty20 cricket. The Sri Lankan paceman was the leading wicket taker in last year’s IPL and he has carried on where he left off in 2011. He has already claimed four victims in the opening two games and just as importantly has managed to stifle the powerplay.

Successfully chasing down a target is easier said than done. To achieve the goal the team batting second must build a solid platform during the powerplay, keep close to the required rate and rely on at least one major contribution with the bat.

Mumbai failed on all three fronts. Richard Levi, the Indians’ new opener who played a match winning knock on his debut against CSK, fell to a second ball duck, and the powerplay yielded a woeful 27 for 3, a position from which the home team was never able to recover. The Indians will be hoping Tendulkar’s finger injury will have healed in time for him to return to the crease on Monday.

Maybe Mumbai were missing one of the old guard. Ajinkya Mahane, who turned out for the Indians in the early days of the IPL, is now plying his trade for the Rajasthan Royals. Mahane blasted a spectacular T20 best 98 to lead his team to 191 for 4, the highest total of the fledgling season to date. No less than 70 of Mahane’s runs came in boundaries as the Royal cruised past Kings Xl Punjab.

Last year’s Master Blaster has been warming up in the nets. West Indian star Chris Gayle is primed for his 2012 IPL debut in Bangalore as the Royal Challengers host the Delhi Daredevils. The visiting bowlers could be in tough if Gayle and teammate Virat Kohli get going. The pair werre the leading scorers during IPL4, combining for more than 1,100 runs.

Deccan Chargers are the last of the nine IPL teams to see action. But the game against Chennai comes too soon for captain Kumar Sangakkara who is still on international duty with Sri Lanka against England. The Chargers won IPL2 back in 2009 but failed to make the playoffs last season.