Punjab eye top-two finish for play-offs: Pujara

As the scramble for the final-four placings gets fierce in IPL-7, Kings XI Punjab batsman Cheteshwar Pujara today said that the table-toppers are eyeing a top-two finish to give themselves a one-game losing cushion in the play-offs.
"Definitely, our target is to be in top two because we get an extra game in the play-off. In case we lose the first play-off we get another opportunity to make it to the finals," Pujara said.
Punjab are sitting pretty at the top followed by Chennai Super Kings. The Kings XI outfit, whose best performance earlier had been making it to the semi-finals of the 2008 inaugural edition, have emerged as favourites to lift the title.

"We are looking forward to winning the remaining games as momentum is important in this format. We want to go into the play-offs with a win," the Saurashtra batsman said.
With Punjab suffering a loss at the hands of Mumbai Indians in Mohali on Wednesday, Pujara admitted that fortunes fluctuate in the T20 format.
"I think it is such a format that on a odd day you may not be as successful as you have been in the rest of the tournament. A couple of games you tend to lose and you will find it happening with other top teams like Chennai Super Kings," he said.

Expressing his happiness with the kind of performance the team has put up this season, Pujara, who is playing for his third IPL franchise after featuring for Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore earlier, said, "the kind of performance we have put up this season, people have really appreciated and even we are satisfied with the way things have gone for us."

"We have a very good team and we are very positive that we will put up a very good show in the remaining games and then taking things forward we will try and do well in the first play-off so that we can straight away go to the finals and prepare well for the finals," he added.

About losing the last match to Mumbai with Punjab's middle-order faltering after a good start, Pujara said, "if you look at the track record, I think our batting line-up has been our strength.
You have one or two odd failures in the entire IPL. I don't think it's a major concern for us because overall we have batted very well in the entire tournament.