Match 39: DD v. KKR: Usual Result, KKR bows down to DD!

In what looked like an aggressive start by KKR, they meakly surrendered to DD. McCullum, put into bat, started with a bang! Six over mid wicket of the very first ball of Nehra. But, the third ball, was unlucky for McCullum as he was given LBW of a delivery that would have missed the off stump. Poor McCullum!

Hodge went for a duck in the same first over caught by deVilliers. Wyk and Saha were the other two to get out for a duck.

Only Ganguly stayed and played sensibly. What else a person can do when the wickets were falling at one end with the balance overs coming down at the same time. Ganguly fell in the 17th over caught by Warner of Nannes for 44 which came off 45 balls that had 1 four and 2 sixes.

Agarkar helped KKR cross 100 with his quick knock. KKR touched 100 in 17.5 overs. KKR ended with 123 on the board. Agarkar was out on the last ball of the innings, scoring 39 off 29 balls.

DD had no problems in chasing such a simple target. Though Sehwag is still not available, Warner is filling his place accurately as a batsman and better as a fielder.

Gambhir and Warner added 53 for the first wicket. Gambhir lost his wicket to Henriques for 18. The next two wickets fell quickly with DD were 69 for 3 in 9 overs. deVilliers and Karthik did not panic as they took the team to the target.

Mishra was given the man of the match for his 3 wickets!

Scoreboard:

Match # 39
Date: Sunday May 10, 2009
Teams: Delhi Daredevils v. Kolkata Knight Riders
Captains: Gambhir and McCullum
Toss: DD, decided to field
Venue: New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Result: DD won by 7 wickets with 17 balls remaining
Points: DD 2; KKR 0
Man of the Match: A Mishra off DD

Kolkata Knight Riders Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
McCullum	lbw b Nehra	6	3	0	1
Ganguly	c DA Warner b Nannes	44	45	1	2
Hodge	c deVilliers b Nehra	0	3	0	0
van Wyk	c Bhatia b Nannes	0	2	0	0
Yashpal Singh	c Bhatia b Mishra	13	20	2	0
Saha	c D Karthik b Mishra	0	1	0	0
Henriques	st D Karthik b Mishra	2	8	0	0
Agarkar	c Manhas b Sangwan	39	29	3	2
M Karthik	Not Out	11	10	0	0
Extras	(lb 2, w 5, nb 1)	8	-	-	-
Total	for 8 wkts in 20 overs	123	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-7 (McCullum, 0.3 ov), 2-7 (Hodge, 0.6 ov), 3-9 (van Wyk, 1.5 ov), 4-45 (Yashpal Singh, 7.3 ov), 5-46 (Saha, 7.6 ov), 6-56 (Henriques, 11.2 ov), 7-88 (Ganguly, 16.1 ov), 8-123 (Agarkar, 19.6 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
Nehra	4	0	29	2
Nannes	4	0	15	2
Sangwan	3	0	32	1
Dilshan	4	0	18	0
A Mishra	4	0	14	3
Bhatia	1	0	13	0

Delhi Daredevils Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Gambhir	c Hodge b Henriques	18	24	3	0
DA Warner	c van Wyk b I Sharma	36	23	5	1
deVilliers	Not Out	40	32	5	0
Dilshan	c Henriques b I Sharma	1	2	0	0
D Karthik	Not Out	17	22	0	0
Extras	(b 2, lb 5, w 6)	13	-	-	-
Total	for 3 wkts in 17.1 overs	125	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-53 (Gambhir, 6.4 ov), 2-66 (Warner, 8.3 ov), 3-69 (Dilshan, 8.6 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
I Sharma	4	0	23	2
Henriques	4	0	35	1
Agarkar	3	0	19	0
Sarkar	1.1	0	19	0
Hodge	1	0	2	0
M Karthik	4	0	20	0

Match 31: DD v. KKR: Easy for DD, KKR's misfield miss match!

Winning the toss and batting first, KKR started well with van Wyk and McCullum adding 58 for the first wicket. McCullum lost the patience and took risk stepping out and playing risky shots. He created momentum from the third over by scoring 21 runs including 2 huge sixes and a four.

van Wyk scored couple of fours in the next over. McCullum departed at the end of the 7th over, caught by Nehra of Sangwan. The run rate slowed down after McCullum got out. End of 10 overs, KKR were 69 for 1.

After the break, Wyk freaked out with as he scored couple of fours in the 12th and hat-trick fours in the next. He was the top scorer with 74 with his 50 coming in 32 balls.

KKR could have seen a victory after long time if they had not missed catches. It started with skipper McCullum dropping the sitter at covers for Gambhir when he was on 21. He missed another chance to run out Gambhir in the 13th over. Dilshaed played it to covers and Gambhir started for it. McCullum picked the ball back flips it towards the stumps and it just missed it.

Gambhir was lucky when umpire did not give him out for a caught behind appeal though he walked few steps.

Gosh dropped a catch from Dilshan at fine leg. Though he picked it, he fumbled it and dropped the catch. Dilshan was on 24 and a new batsmen would have gone through pressure to score 30 from 24 balls.

With 4 runs required, one more catch was dropped in the 19th over for Gambhir. Henriques was the culprit this time!

With all these mis-fields, DD made it in the 19th over with the loss of Warner. Gambhir was unbeaten on 71 and declared man of the match!

Scoreboard:

Match # 31
Date: Tuesday May 5, 2009
Teams: Delhi Daredevils v. Kolkata Knight Riders
Captains: Gambhir and McCullum
Toss: KKR, decided to bat
Venue: Kingsmead, Durban
Result: DD won by 9 wickets with 6 balls remaining
Points: DD 2; KKR 0
Man of the Match: Gambhir off DD

Kolkata Knight Riders Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
van Wyk	b Nehra	74	48	11	0
McCullum	c Nehra b Sangwan	35	29	1	3
Hodge	c deVilliers b Sangwan	10	19	0	0
Henriques	Not Out	30	24	2	1
Saha	Not Out	1	1	0	0
Extras	(w 3, nb 1)	4	-	-	-
Total	for 3 wkts in 20 overs	154	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-58 (McCullum, 6.6 ov), 2-98 (Hodge, 12.6 ov), 3-147 (van Wyk, 19.2 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
Nannes	4	0	49	0
A Nehra	4	0	23	1
A Mishra	4	1	18	0
Sangwan	4	0	29	2
Bhatia	4	0	35	0

Delhi Daredevils Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Gambhir	Not Out	71	57	7	0
Warner	c Henriques b Agarkar	36	23	5	1
Dilshan	Not Out	42	34	5	1
Extras	(lb 1, w 7)	8	-	-	-
Total	for 1 wkts in 19 overs	157	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-60 (Warner, 6.6 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
I Sharma	4	0	43	0
Dinda	2	0	17	0
Henriques	4	0	36	0
Hodge	2	0	18	0
Agarkar	3	0	24	1
M Karthik	4	0	18	0