Match 32: Captain Ganguly stars in Kolkata's Win

In a crucial match for Kolkata, where a win would still keep them in the race for a birth in semi-final, captain Sourav Ganguly lead from the front and retained their hope for semi finals.

Winning the toss and deciding to bat first, Salman Butt couldn't find his form and got out in the first over after striking a boundary. He was caught by Gilchrist off Vaas. Breakthrough in the first over itself.

Ganguly joined Akash Chopra and built a 68-run partnership for the 2nd wicket in 57 balls. Thought it was slow, the partnership laid the foundation for big overs in the remaining overs.

At the end of 10 overs, Kolkata were 73 for 1 with Ganguly on 43 with 8 fours and Chopra on 24 off 22 balls with 3 fours.

The poor calling between Ganguly and Chopra sent the later to the pavilion. Good direct hit by Gibbs in mid-wicket.

The 102-run partnership in 48 balls between Ganguly and David Hussey boosted the Kolkata's run rate and also gave them a good chance to go beyound 200 run mark.

Ganguly reached his 50 in the 40 balls with 9 fours. He did not take risk as much as Hussey did, but that made more sense.

As soon as he reached his 50, he hit two sixes off Ojha. The 14th over added 19 runs to the total and the momentum picked up.

The next over of Venugopal added 10 to the total and at the end of 15, Kolkata were 118 for 2.

Styris was brought into the attack expecting break-through, but Hussey hit hi for a four in the 2nd ball and then Ganguly hit him for two continuous sixes to take his tally to 84 and the score to 136 for 2 in 16 overs.

The sixes and fours started coming easily. Vaas was hit for a six by Ganguly of a full toss. Another full toss was sent to four by Hussy and followed by a six of one more full. 19 runs to the total and it crossed 150.

RP Sing conceeded 20 runs to Hussey in the 18th over including 2 sixes, 1 four and two 2s. Score was 175 for 2 in 18 overs. Hussey crosed his 50 with the six in 25 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes.

With 9 more to reach his hundred and just 12 balls remaining, he was caught at fine leg off Vijayakumar. The ball pitched outside the leg stump and he hooked it straight to fielder. His 91 came off 57 balls with 11 fours and 5 sixes.

Tabiu hit a four and got out in the 20th over. Shukla hit two fours and the last ball of the innings added 6 runs to the total. Shukla hit the ball to long off and retuned for the 2nd run. The fiedler at long off threw the ball to RP Singh, who in turned threw it to the wicket keeper end for a run out without realizing that no one was backing up. The ball touched the ropes and added 6 to the total. The poor throw helped Kolkata to go past 200, a psychological figure.

Chasing 205 in 20 overs, is always difficult. One or two quick wickets or good overs would put pressure to the players.

The start did not go as expected. Gibbs was caught by Salman Butt at third man for 5.

Gilchrist couldn't time the ball well as he most of the times does. He hit 3 fours in the 5th over bowled by Dinda but got out in the same over last ball, caught by Ganguly. He was out for 24 off 17 balls with 5 fours.

Ravi Teja was out in the first ball of the next over caught behind off Umar Gul.

Rohit Sharma and Styris carrying more and more pressure had to save their side from another loss. Styris was soon out for 5 caught by Shukla off Ganguly.

Venugopal joined Rohit in the 9th over. Rohit hit Ganguly for a huge six over mid wicket. At the end of 10 overs, Deccan Chargers were 74 for 4. Rohit hit another six of Ganguly, but that was not enough.

He got out in the 13th over after hitting a four in the first ball. He played across the line to hit it over mid wicket, but it went straight to Ganguly at the edge of the circle. He contributed 33 off 24 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes.

Murali Karthik's over game some how for Decccan Charger when Venugopal tried his chances. He hit him for 3 sixes and a four. All of there were good shots which took the score to 121 for 5 in 14 overs.

Bangar was out in the 15th over, caught by Chopra off Ganguly for 2. Ganguly is becoming a good T20 bowler.

Venugopal hit a six of Ishanth Sharma, the one handed shot off a wide short ball. It cleared the third man boundary. The over pitched next ball was driven through extra cover for a boundary. 12 runs from this over changed the equation to 68 off 24 balls.

Venugopal hit a four and a six of the next over by Umar Gul and reached his 50. He was dealing in boudaries and sixes in every over. He is becoming more and more dangerous for Kolkata. He reached his 50 in 28 balls with 3 fours and 5 sixes. The 17th over added 17 runs to the total. 51 from 18 balls.

Shukla gave just 7 runsin the 18th over and picked the wicket of Vaas.

44 from 12 balls with 3 wickets in hand. Including a six by Venugopal, the 19th over added just 11 to the total.

Last over, 33 runs required. Deccan managed to get only 9 runs and lost the match by 23 runs, almost ending their dream of making it to the top 4.

Venugopal was not on 71 off 42 balls with 4 fours and 6 sixes. That was a superb fighting knock, which shocked Kolkata.

Ganguly once again is the man of the match for his 91 and 2 wickets of 4 overs giving 25 runs.

Match 32
Venue: Hyderabad
Date: May 11, 2008
Teams: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders
Captains: Adam Gilchrist and Sourav Ganguly
Toss: Kolkata Knight Riders and decided to bat
Result: Kolkata Knight Riders won by 23 runs
Man of the Match: Sourav Ganguly off Kolkata Knight Riders (India)
Points: Kolkata Knight Riders-2; Hyderabad Deccan Chargers-0
Score:

Kolkata Knight Riders 204 for 4 in 20 overs (Salman Butt 4, A Chopra 24, SC Ganguly 91, DJ Hussey 57 not out, T Taibu 9, LR Shukla 14 not out, Extras-5 (lb 1, wide 3, nb 1), WPUJC Vaas 3-0-36-1, DP Vijaykumar 3-0-21-1, SB Styris 3-0-28-0, RP Singh 4-0-59-1, Y Venugopal Rao 4-0-24-0, SB Bangar 1-0-10-0, PP Ojha 2-0-25-0) beat Hyderabad Deccan Chargers 181 for 7 in 20 overs (AC Gilchrist 24, HH Gibbs 5, DB Ravi Teja 10, RG Sharma 33, SB Styris 5, Y Venugopal Rao 71 not out, SB Bangar 2, WPUJC Vaas 9, RP Singh 6 not out, Extras-16 (lb 8, wide 4, nb 4), AB Dinda 4-0-33-3, I Sharma 3-0-27-0, Umar Gul 4-0-43-1, SC Ganguly 4-0-25-2, M Kartik 3-0-29-0, LR Shukla 2-0-16-1)

Match 26: Deccan's 2nd Win beating Chennai!

What happened to Dhoni? Why is he not learning the positives and negatives from the previous losses? The Chennai super Kings have given a hopes to Deccan Chargers and now more pressure on Dhoni to win the remaining matches.

Put into bat, once gain the top order failed. Patel wanted to hit from the first over itself--may be using the tactics of attacking the bowler before he does it. He failed once more time, caught by RP Singh, a well run catch off Vijaykumar.

Anirudha Srikanth, appearing for the first time, couldn't handle the pressure. He faced 7 balls for his 1 run and fell for the pressure. He stepped out and tried to pull the short ball. But, he hit from the top of the batch, which went in air like a lolly pop.

Fleming looked like he was coming to form, but fell to a good jumping catch by Rohit Sharm at covers of Styris.

Badrinath came in and was briliantly caught by Gibbs at point. It was a wide and short deliery by Afridi. He chased it and tried to steer it between point and third man, but it went in the air towards left of Gibbs. He dived and grabbed the ball, though looked easy, it was a good catch. At this stage, Chennai were 43 for 4 in 6.5 overs.

Raina and Dhoni added 39 for the 5th wicket off 40 balls. Raina was out off a low full toss, which he hit straight to Rohit Sharma at extra cover, an easy catch to end his innings at 32 off 21 balls with 5 fours.

Dhoni fell in the next over, trying to sweep Ojha. He was struggling against Ojha already and he tried sweep the ball pitched outside leg stump. The ball hit gloves, and the back of the bat and flew to short third man where Afridi took one of the simplest catches. He scored 23 off 31 balls with just 2 fours. Chennai was struggling at 86 for 6 in 15 overs.

It was Morkel who lighted the Chennai innings. He hit a four and 2 sixes in his 29 not out off 19 balls. Joginder Singh contributed 16 off 10 balls with a six and a four. He was bowled in the 19th over in which only 3 runs were scored.

The last over cold have been a turning point, if Chennai had bowled well. Gony hit two sixes and a four to finish the last over with 17 runs and Chennai ended their innings with 144 on the board.

RP Singh took 2 wickets in his 3 overs giving away just 12 runs.

Chasing a moderate score is alwyas kind of 50-50. You lose two quick wickets or score low runs in couple of hours, it turns the match. Though the first two overs did not go well for Deccan Chargers--4 for no loss, Gibbs opened it up and Gilchrist took it from there! Gibbs stepped out and hit Ntini for a six over covers.

Morkel's over had two boundaries from Gilchrist. The change of end for Gony worked when he dismissed Gibbs caught and bowled for 10.

In the next over, Gilly hit Ntini for 2 sixes and a four in the 6th over. Both Gilly and Styris played sensibly with Gilly scoring at high speed in one end.

Gilly reached his 50 off 34 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes. In the 10th over, Gilly played his favorite shot, a slashing cut towards point, flying like a bullet, where Badrinath took a good catch. He was out for 54 off 36 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes.

Rohit Sharma, took his orange cap again for going beyond Shewag. He added 47 along with Styris, in which he scored 23 off 17 balls with 2 fours and a six. He was trying to finish the game faster, but did not read the doosra from Muralitharan. The ball went up in the air and Badrinath accepted it easily. That was too late for Chennai to get a wicket. The score was 125 for 2 in 16.1 overs.

Deccan Chargers needed 20 runs from 4 overs with 8 wickets in hand--a sure win. With Muralitharan completing his spell of 4 overs with 1 for 24, there was no specialist bowler to contain the Deccan Chargers. The last three overs needed 18.

Afridi, the usual destructor finished scoring all the 18 runs in one over of Joginder Sharma by hitting two sixes and two fours--six, four, six, four.

Gilly was rightly chosen for the man of the match award.

This is the 2nd win for Deccan Chargers and 3rd continuous loss for Chennai Super Kings.

Match 26
Venue: Chennai
Date: May 6, 2008
Teams: Chennai Super Kings and Hyderabad Deccan Chargers
Captains: Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Adam Gilchrist
Toss: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers and decided to field
Result: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers won by 7 wickets with 12 balls remaining
Man of the Match: AC Gilchrist off Hyderabad Deccan Chargers (Australia)
Points: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers-2; Chennai Super Kings-0
Score:
Chennai Super Kings 144 for 7 in 20 overs (PA Patel 4, SP Fleming 14, S Anirudha 1, SK Raina 32, S Badrinath 0, MS Dhoni 23, JA Morkel 29 not out, Joginder Sharma 16, M Gony 15 not out, Extras—10 (lb 6, wide 4), DP Vijaykumar 3-0-17-1, RP Singh 3-0-12-2, SB Styris 3-0-24-1, Shahid Afridi 3-0-27-1, SB Bangar 4-0-36-1, PP Ojha 4-0-22-1) lost to Hyderabad Deccan Chargers 148 for 3 in 18 overs (AC Gilchrist 54, HH Gibbs 10, SB Styris 36 not out, RG Sharma 23, Shahid Afridi 20 not out, Extras-5 (lb 1, wide 2, nb 2), M Ntini 4-0-37-0, M Gony 3-0-15-0, JA Morkel 4-0-26-1, Joginder Sharma 3-0-45-0, M Muralitharan 4-0-24-1)

Match 19: Marsh denied Victory to Deccan Chargers! Help Kings XI to Win!

Marsh denied Deccan Chargers another victory and stopped their dream of continuous winning.

Gilchrist failed this time when he was bowled by Pathan for 6. Everyone expected another firing innings from him, but the fans were disappointed.

The new comer Gibbs also did not taste success. He was caught by Goel of Piyush Chawla, who was brought into bowling after the power play. The team was going at 7.71 runs per over at the end of 7 overs.

Rohit Sharma, another successful and young batsman, joined his skipper. In two overs gap, Laxman was caught by Laxman at extra covers off Chawla. He played stylishly, picked from off stump to mid wicket for four, his usual shot. He was out for 48 off 34 balls with 8 fours.

Rohit Sharma's innings was amazing! The youngster provided an opportunit for other players to see his beautiful strokes and timing the ball for hitting huge sixes and picking gaps for fours. If he is guided and coached perfectly, he will be one of the key players for Indian team. His temparement and playing huge knocks is going are perfect examples that he has every opportunity and talent to replace one of the three to the retire--Ganguly, Dravid and Sachin.

He crossed his 50 in 35 ball in 34 balls with 7 fours and a six.

Though Afridi looked like dominating the bowling, he fell soon and was not a big success in IPL. He scored 13 before scooped one in the air and was caught by Yuvaraj for 13 with a six an four in 7 balls. The score was 90 for 4 in 11.5 overs.

No one crossed double digit after that. Venugopal Rao, Bangar, Zoysa, Kalyankrishna, and RP Sing scored 1, 3, 1, 3, and 2 respectively. But, Rohit Sharma, was scoring on the other hand and no one was able to stop him. None of the bowlers went for 10 runs per over and that was a good sign for Kings XI Punjan. Gagandeep Singh was the costly bowler giving away 37 runs in his 4 overs and taking a wicket at 9.25 runs per over. Piyus Chawla was the pick of the bowlers taking 3 wickets and economical also giving away 28 runs in 4 overs.

Rohit was not out on 76 off 42 balls with 10 fours and 2 sixes.

Deccan chargers put a decent score of 164 on the board, but that was not enough the control Kings XI Punjab.

Marsh scored a wonderful 84 which helped his team to add another victory. Though he hit only one six, his drives and hitting over infield were amazing. He reached his 50 in 35 balls with 8 fours and remained not out on 84 off 62 balls with 11 fours and a six.

Sarwan provided him good company, but was run out himself for 15, when found short of his crease when the ball touched Bowler Bangar's finger.

Sangakkara did not last long. He was caught by Sharma for 3; Yuvaraj Singh scored 14 off 9 balls and gave a return catch to Zoysa. When he was out, the score was 86 for 3 in 10.5 overs. In 55 balls, 79 needed.

Jayawardane and Marsh added the remaining score in 18.5 overs. They scored 81 in 48 balls. Kalyankrishna was costly with 34 runs in 3 overs.

Jayawardane was 45 not out in 23 balls with 6 fours and a six. Marsh was not out on 84 off 62 balls with 11 fours and a six and rightly chosen for the man of the match award.

Match 19
Venue: Hyderabad
Date: May 1, 2008
Teams: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab
Captains: Yuvaraj Singh and VVS Laxman
Toss: Kings XI Punjab and decided to field
Result: Kings XI Punjab won by 7 wickets with 7 balls to spare
Man of the Match: SE Marsh off Kings XI Punjab (Australia)
Points: Kings XI Punjab-2; Hyderabad Deccan Chargers-0
Score:
Hyderabad Deccan Chargers 164 for 8 in 20 overs (AC Gilchrist 6, VVS Laxman 48, HH Gibbs 7, RG Sharma 76 not out, Shahid Afridi 13, Y Venugopal Rao 1, SB Bangar 3, DNT Zoysa 1, D Kalyankrishna 3, RP Singh 2 not out, Extras—4 (b 1,lb 1, wide 2), S Sreesanth 4-0-33-1, IK Pathan 4-0-30-2, VRV Singh 4-0-34-0, PP Chawla 4-0-28-3, Gagandeep Singh 4-0-37-1) lost to Kings XI Punjab 167 for 3 in 18.5 overs (SE Marsh 84 not out, RR Sarwan 15, KC Sangakkara 3, Yuvraj Singh 14, DPMD Jayawardene 45 not out, Extras—6 (lb 2, wide 4), RP Singh 3.5-0-36-0, DNT Zoysa 4-0-32-1, Shahid Afridi 3-0-28-0, SB Bangar 4-0-26-0, D Kalyankrishna 3-0-34-1, Y Venugopal Rao 1-0-9-0)

Match 7: Shewag and Delhi Bowling Demolish Deccan Chargers!

For the second time, the Deccan Chargers have failed to prove their credibility in the 20-20 and IPL. The team lead by Laxman once again failed to win their match and has faced two consecutive defeats.

Winning the toss, but taking a bad decision to bat first, Laxman did not had anything go in favor of him except the last few overs of his teams batting. Including his form, everything has been questioned on the teams performance. He has scored just 2 runs in two games with the a duck in the first game.

The swing the pitch offered in addition to the natural ability of McGrath put Hyderabad Deccan Chargers in the back foot. No one was able to make big hits as they were not timing the ball. At the end of the 10th over, Deccan Chargers were 45 for 4 with all the leading batsman back in the pavilion--Gilchrist (8), Venugopal Rao (14), Laxman (2) and Andrew Symonds (12).

It was the young Rohit Sharma who took charge of the innings, but at the later part of the overs. He was playing singles to ensure that they score at least run a ball so that they can cross 100.

The over from Maharoof proved to be vital and provided a hope for Deccan Chargers. Rohit hit 26 runs of Maharoof's final over and the 18th over of the innings. That took the score from 90 for 7 in 17 overs to 116 for 6 in 18. Rohit was out in the next over, but the remaining batsman were slogging and scored 26 runs in the last two overs to give Deccan a decent total of 142 for 8. Rohit scored 66 off 36 balls with 6 fours and 4 sixes.

Delhi, looking for their 2nd win, reached home with another 2 points comfortably in just 13.1 overs. Skipper Virendra Shewag smashed Deccan bowling all over the ground. Though he was lucky not to be given out in the 1st over, he scored a firing 94 not out off 41 balls with 10 fours and 6 sixes. He dominated the complete innings with huge hits over the ground.

The 12th over of the innings bowled by Symonds had seen highest run conceding over in the game. Shewag scored 30 runs in that over with alternates of forus and sixes--four, six, four, six, four, six.

Shewag as declared man of the match, the first Indian to get the award in the tournament.

In the 4th ball of the 12th over, the ball hit the helmet and Deccan Chargers were penalized for that. It was a bonus of 5 runs to Delhi.

Match 7
Venue: Hyderabad
Date: April 22, 2008
Teams: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers v. Delhi Daredevils
Captains: VVS Laxman and Virendra Shewag
Toss: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers and decided to bat
Result: Delhi Daredevils won by 9 wickets with 42 balls remaining
Man of the Match: Virendra Shewag of Delhi Daredevils (India)
Points: Delhi Daredevils-2; Hyderabad Deccan Chargers-0
Score:
Hyderabad Deccan Chargers 142 for 8 in 20 overs (AC Gilchrist 8, Y Venugopal Rao 14, VVS Laxman 2, A Symonds 12, RG Sharma 66, Shahid Afridi 2, SB Bangar 8, AS Yadav 12, WPUJC Vaas 12 not out, RP Singh 1 not out, Extras 5--lb 3, wide 1, nb 1, GD McGrath 4-1-22-0, Mohammad Asif 4-0-19-2, MF Maharoof 4-0-36-2, VY Mahesh 4-0-35-1, R Bhatia 4-0-27-2) lost to Delhi Daredevils 143 for 1 in 13 overs (G Gambhir 12, V Sehwag 94 not out, S Dhawan 25 not out, Extras 12--wide 7, penalty 5, WPUJC Vaas 3-0-22-0, RP Singh 3-0-27-1, SB Bangar 2-0-30-0, Shahid Afridi 2-0-17-0, A Symonds 2-0-35-0, PP Ojha 1-0-7-0)

Match 4: David Hussey Helps Kolkata Register 2nd Win!

David Hussey's 38 off 43 balls helped Kolkata Knight Riders continue their winning habit. What thought to be an easy target, the pitch helped the bowlers. The ball didn't come to the bat as expected. The win has set the entire almost house full crowd of Kolkata into fire. Their first victory was in Bangalore and the second win was in front of the home crowd.

Chasing the target of 111, the centurian and record holder for highest individual run getter in an innings, McCullum was out for 5, caught at point off RP Singh. He played the ball on the midwicket, but it took the edge and flew to point. Ponting was out for a first ball duck, leg before to Vaas. Saha, the other opener, gave an easy catch to midoff trying to drive the ball, but it went in the air. With three wickets lost for 21 in the 5th over, Hussey and skipper Ganguly played sensibly and built the innings. They both added 47 for the 4th wicket before Ganguly was bowled by Ojha at the end of the 13th over. He tried to slog the ball over mid-wicket, but he missed the ball completely in the flight and it it the leg stump.

With 7 overs remaining and needed 43, Mohammad Hafeez joined Hussey. His run a ball innings of 13 ended when he tried to reverse sweep, which took the edge and popped up in the air. Symonds in mid-wicket took an easy running catch, leaving Kolkata at 88 for 5 in 16.3 overs.

With 23 requiring of 21 balls, Shulka started off with a single. When Kolkata needed 22 of 20 balls, the lights of Eden Garden went off and the play was stopped for a while. The play resumed after 30 odd minutes and the referee decided not to reduce the over.

Hussey hit Styris for a 6 and a four in the same over and that turned the match in favor of Kolkata and they finished the game with one over to spare.

David Hussey declared Man of the Match and so far in all the four matches, only the foregin players have grabbed the awards.

Earlier, winning the toss and deciding to bat first, nothing went in favor of Hyderabad Deccan Chargers. They were cheaply dismissed for 110 and they did not play their full quota of 20 overs. They were all out in 18.4 overs.

Andrew Symonds was the top scorer with 32 off 39 balls, followed by Gilchrist 23 off 22 balls. Skipper Laxman was out for a duck. The Deccan Chargers had four batsman not scoring--Laxman, RG Sharma, Vaas, and Ohja.

Murali Karthik was the pick of the bowlers with 3 wickets.

Match 4
Venue: Kolkata
Date: April 20, 2008
Teams: Kolkata Knight Riders v. Deccan Chargers
Captains: Ganguly and VVS Laxman
Toss: Deccan Chargers and decided to bat
Result: Kolkata Knight Riders won by 5 wickets with 6 balls remaining
Man of the Match: DJ Hussey of Kolkata Knight Riders (Australia)
Points: Kolkata Knight Riders-2; Deccan Chargers-0
Score:
Deccan Chargers 110 all out in 18.4 overs (AC Gilchrist 23, Y Venugopal Rao 14, VVS Laxman 0, A Symonds 32, RG Sharma 0, SB Styris 6, AS Yadav 10, SB Bangar 14, WPUJC Vaas 0, RP Singh 1 not out, PP Ojha 0, Extras 10--lb 4, wide 4, nb 2, AB Dinda 3-0-18-1, I Sharma 3-1-9-1, AB Agarkar 2-0-19-2, M Kartik 3.4-0-17-3, Mohammad Hafeez 4-0-8-1, DJ Hussey 3-0-35-1) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 112 for 5 in 19 overs (WP Saha 10, BB McCullum 5, RT Ponting 0, SC Ganguly 14, DJ Hussey 38 not out, Mohammad Hafeez 13, LR Shukla 4 not out, Extras 28--b 4, lb 8, wide 15, nb 1, WPUJC Vaas 3-0-9-2, RP Singh 3-0-15-1, SB Styris 4-0-19-0, SB Bangar 3-0-19-0, A Symonds 2-0-20-0, PP Ojha 4-0-18-2)

Light's Back! 22 needed in 20 balls!

The lights are back in Eden Gardens and Kolkata Knight Riders needed 22 off 20 balls. The first time match referee Fareooq Engineer was convincing the players about resuming the play and the temporary halt.

The match referee Farooq Engineer--his first match as referee, decided that the play would resume with no reduction in the number of overs.

We have to wait and see what the teams do as the chances are 50-50 now.

Lights Gone! Play Stopped in Kolkata!

Play stopped when Kolkatta Knight Riders needed 22 off 20 balls. Not sure what happened with the light, but they went off and the play was stopped for more than 30 minutes.

We have to wait until the lights are back and have to see the decision to be taken by the match referre Farooq Engineer.

If the match had been called off at that time, it would have been a tie and the teams should have bowled at the stumps.