Indian Premier League - IPL / Rowan Williams / 11 April 2012 /

Pune have made a good start to this year's campaign with two wins from two matches and some would say they've over-performed given their resources and poor showing last year. They play Kings Punjab XI here and can win again in a high-scoring encounter, says Rowan Williams.

Start Time: 15:30 BST

TV Channel: ITV4

Live Updates:

Venue and Conditions

The Punjab is known as the Bread Basket of India and is the wettest and most fertile area of the country, but as things stand no rain is due, so we are hopeful for an uninterrupted game at the PCA stadium in Mohali.

Pune Warriors

Sri Lankan All-rounder Angelo Matthews is available for the first time for the Warriors, and comes into the game in good form with the bat, scoring 57 and 46 in the last test match against England in Columbo. His more than useful bowling should see him slot into the team nicely, and we could see him come in to bat anywhere in the middle order.

Kings XI Punjab

With Stuart Broad missing the tournament through injury, the Kings eleven might have to rely more heavily than previously planned on the experienced Pakistani Azhar Mahmood. He has played well over 100 T20 games and averages just shy of 30 runs per innings. What is more impressive though is his strike rate of 143 plus. He has been used as an opener before as well as a finisher and I believe his versatility could play a key part in weeks to come.

Match Odds

Pune have a 100 per cent record so far, including a 22 run win over Punjab last time out. They're [1.75] favourites but then again they probably deserve to be.

Pune top Batsman

Pune have an interesting opening pair, in Sourav Ganguly and Jesse Ryder, but in the last game the glove-man Robin Uthappa looked the one in best touch. He scored 40 off 33 balls with two sixes, and he is expected to go well again. But if there is an early tumble of wickets watch out for Angelo Matthews coming in at 5 or 6, he has the ability to both steady a ship and kick on at the end of an innings.

Punjab top Batsman

Paul Valthaty averaged a fairly decent 35.62 in last year's competition, and could be worth a bet coming in as an opening batsman. He has not had a fantastic time of it so far this year, but he has a chance of turning things around against what appears to be a fairly unthreatening Pune opening attack.

Other featured market

Over 300 runs were scored when these two teams last met last week. Check out the Innings runs for whoever bats first in this game and have a look at backing the team to score fairly big. 150 should be easily attainable, but why stop there? No one has broken the magical 200 barrier yet in this year's IPL. But this game, with both sides' limited bowling abilities, could be the best chance we have had yet. Also, in the one International T20 game to be played at the stadium, the team batting first, Sri Lanka, amassed a score of 206. They went on to lose by 6 wickets to India.

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