Spotlight on comeback man Yuvi

Pune Warriors India have always had their share of trouble in their brief existance and as of now it doesn’t look like this season is going to be any different.

Coming into being in 2011, the Pune side has been embattled with myriad issues but their primary problem the last season, as this year, has been the absence of their most important player.

Last year they missed out on the services of Yuvraj Singh as the left-hander was recovering from cancer and this year they are going to have go on without Michael Clarke as the Australian skipper chose to nurse his injured back and hamstring.

Clarke, who may been named skipper since Sourav Ganguly’s retirement at the end of the last season, has been replaced by another Australian Aaron Finch, but it is all too obvious that the Warriors will have a tough time without the experience and batting fire powere of the right-hander.

On the plus side, Warriors have named Angelo Mathews as their skipper, and going by the Sri Lankan’s vigour and penchant for performing in the T20 league, it is a move that is likely to pay rich dividends.

The rest of the squad is more or less the same but the Warriors’ trading of paceman Ashish Nehra with Delhi Daredevils’ Ross Taylor is one of their biggest gains along with the return of Yuvraj. With Taylor, Yuvraj, Manish Pandey and Robin Uthappa in thier ranks, they have a solid batting line-up. Stritkinng consistency, however, has been their biggest issue in the past. Nehra’s exit isn’t going to be a big loss though. Kane Richardson, who the Warriors grabbed for Rs 3.7 crore, will be a handful going by what has been seen of him so far while Luke Wright, Wayne Parnell, rising India star Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ashok Dinda will provide the pace battery the much-needed edge.

The Warriors’ strength is, however, their spin department. Loaded with the likes of Marlon Samuels, Parvez Rasool, Ajantha Mendis, Steven Smith and the wily part-time of Yuvraj, they are bound to shake up some ranks.

However, it remains to be seen if the Warriors can have it all come together.