It’s Sourav Ganguly versus Knight Riders at D Y Patil

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly will be up against his former team Kolkata Knight Riders when he steps out on the field for Pune Warriors at the D Y Patil Sports Academy here on Thursday.

It is a key match for Knight Riders as they are just a step away from their maiden play-off berth. But it is revenge time for Ganguly as well after all he was snubbed by the Kolkata franchise, which he led in the last three years.

But sans Ganguly, Knight Riders have put up their best showing in the IPL so far.

Ganguly made a last minute return to IPL as a replacement for injured Ashish Nehra. And he is out to prove a point and the stage is set for him.

The Knight Riders have built their team around Gautam Gambhir and it has paid them rich dividends as the tournament moves into its concluding phase.

Gambhir has maintained that this is a match against Pune Warriors and not Ganguly so that his boys don’t lose focus.

On the other hand, Pune Warriors have no chance of making the play-offs and under Yuvraj Singh is grappling with indifferent form, and have more problems than solutions.

The focus is on whether the visitors from Kolkata can continue to execute their game-plan and dictate the flow in a must-win situation.

Kolkata Knight Riders, under Gambhir, has created a set-up where players are pulling in the same direction.