Uthappa hopeful of Pune Warriors' comeback

Pune Warriors batsman Robin Uthappa says he has not lost hope of making it to the knock-out stage, even as the new entrants suffered their seventh consecutive loss in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Wednesday.

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The Warriors are sitting at the bottom of the points table and the 21-run loss against Mumbai Indians more or less ensured their early exit from the league.

"Cricket is a funny game. Anything can happen. We have still got five games. We need to win all of them. It takes one game to pick yourself up and get momentum," said Uthappa, who made 34 not out.

Uthappa feels that the inclusion of former India captain Sourav Ganguly, in place of injured left arm pacer Ashish Nehra, will boost the team's confidence.

"He's got 11,000 runs in ODI cricket. He's got a couple of days before the next game," he pointed out.

Uthappa said the penultimate over of the Mumbai Indians innings in which paceman Alfonso Thomas leaked 27 runs proved costly.

"When you get nine balls (including wides) in one over, you can surely make it a big over. (Kieron) Pollard made full use of that," said Uthappa.

Uthappa, however, said an individual was not responsible for the defeat and it was the team that couldn't perform as one unit.

"When you win you win as a team and lose as a team. We are not pointing fingers at anyone. As a unit we are trying hard. It's difficult when you lose six-seven games in a row to pick yourself up. I have been in similar situation with other teams. All you need is win a couple of games and the confidence will be up," he said.

Uthappa praised their leg-spinner Rahul Sharma, who was Man of the Match, with figures of two for seven in four overs.

"Even today in our loss, man-of-the-match was from our side. He bowled brilliantly. Rahul's bowling inspired us. He's been bowling very well," he said.