Match 53: KKR v. RR: KKR on Late Winning Song! Sends Rajasthan Home!

With another win, McCullum's KKR has pakced Rajasthan Royals home. Yes, the last year's champion is out of the tournament. Though there is no impact to KRR, a win for RR would have helped them to wait and watch other games to see their luck!

It was a low scoring affair with Rajasthan Royals bundled for 101. Naman Ojha started the innings well scoring 22 runs of the first over bowled by Hodge. Put into bat, Ojha started the innings with a six over square leg. David Hussey dropped the catch for Ojha in the next ball. He played the same shot, but it took edge and went to Hussey who failed to hold on to it.

Six from the third ball over long off. The next two balls went for one run each. Ojha against scored a six off the last ball, again over square leg.

Quiney, Asnodkar, and Ojha were dismissed in the three continuous overs. Each over had a wicket for KKR. Botha was bowled by Agarkar for 8. At the end of 10 overs, RR were 61 for 5. Yusuf Pathan once again failed as he was run out for 9. RR managed play out the full quota of 20 overs and set 102 as target.

Though looked like an easy targt, the pitch was helping the slower bowlers and turning well. McCullum started with 2 fours in the first over but Ganguly lost his wicket in the first over. He came down the track to hit over covers, but managed to hit staraight to Jadeja at point.

McCullum was trapped in the first ball of the second over. Munaf grabbed Yashpal caught by Quiney for 6. N Ojha did a good stumping to send dangerous Hodge, who played the ball to silly point and takes off. The ball spun back and went to keeper who grabbed it and removed the bails. Third umpire found the bat was in the air!

Hussey was caught at deep midwicket off Botha. Unnecessary short at this point in time. KKR was in deep trouble having just 38 on the board with 5 wicket in hand.

Last 10 overs needed 64 runs. Shaikh ran out himself for 6 when there was no run. Shukla took the responsibility on his shoulders with Agarkar on the other end.

Shukla's six over midwicket of Warne was good to watch! Last 5 overs needed 37 runs. Shukla scored 10 runs in the 16th over bowled by Jadeja. Agarkar and Shukla managed Warne well. They scored just singles of his last over.

21 from 18 balls. Shukla took the risk! He hit Botha over midwicket for a huge six. Relief in KKR camp and pressure on RR as they are on the verge of losing the chance to book their slot for the last four.

11 from 12 balls. Shukla playing wonderfully, timing the ball well. He hit the slower ball from Henderson over extra cover for a boundary. In the remaining four balls, 3 single's were scored.

4 runs of 6 balls and KKR finished the match in the third ball. RR out of the tournament!

Scoreboard:

Match # 53
Date: Wednesday May 20, 2009
Teams: Kolkata Knight Riders v. Rajasthan Royals
Captains: McCullum and Warne
Toss: KKR, decided to bat
Venue: Kingsmead, Durban
Result: KKR won by 4 wickets with 3 balls remaining
Points: KKR 2; RR 0
Man of the Match: Shukla off KKR

Rajasthan Royals Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
N Ojha	c Shaikh b Langeveldt	22	12	0	3
Quiney	c Shaikh b Langeveldt	1	2	0	0
Asnodkar	Run Out (Dinda)	4	6	1	0
N Patel	c Ganguly b Langeveldt	14	22	1	0
Botha	b Agarkar	8	6	2	0
Y Pathan	Run Out (Shukla)	9	15	1	0
RA Jadeja	b Sarkar	14	19	1	0
Henderson	Run Out (D Hussey)	0	1	0	0
Warne	b Agarkar	18	29	1	0
M Patel	Not Out	5	6	0	0
A Singh	Not Out	1	2	0	0
Extras	(lb 2, w 3)	5	-	-	-
Total	for 9 wkts in 20 overs	101	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-22 (Quiney, 1.1 ov), 2-28 (Asnodkar, 2.5 ov), 3-28 (Ojha, 3.3 ov), 4-42 (Botha, 5.3 ov), 5-59 (NK Patel, 9.2 ov), 6-62 (Pathan, 10.5 ov), 7-62 (Henderson, 11.2 ov), 8-92 (Jadeja, 17.2 ov), 9-99 (Warne, 19.3 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
Hodge	1	0	22	0
Langeveldt	4	0	15	3
Dinda	4	0	12	0
Agarkar	4	0	15	2
Sarkar	3	0	15	1
Shukla	4	0	20	0

Kolkata Knight Riders Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
McCullum	lbw A Singh	9	4	2	0
Ganguly	c RA Jadeja b M Patel	0	3	0	0
Hodge	st N Ojha b Botha	6	8	1	0
Yashpal	c Quiney b M Patel	6	20	0	0
D Hussey	c N Patel b Botha	9	13	2	0
Shukla	Not Out	48	46	3	2
Shaikh	Run Out (Botha/Y Pathan)	6	7	1	0
Agarkar	Not Out	13	17	0	0
Extras	(b 2, lb 1, w 1, nb 1)	5	-	-	-
Total	for 6 wkts in 19.3 overs	102	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-9 (Ganguly, 0.6 ov), 2-9 (McCullum, 1.1 ov), 3-21 (Yashpal Singh, 4.6 ov), 4-30 (Hodge, 7.1 ov), 5-37 (Hussey, 9.1 ov), 6-45 (Shaikh, 11.3 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
M Patel	4	0	14	2
A Singh	3.3	0	19	1
Botha	4	0	19	2
Warne	4	0	24	0
RA Jadeja	2	0	13	0
Henderson	2	0	10	0

Match 35: Akhtar Demolishes Delhi Daredevils!

Akhta's come back has proved vital as he demolished Delhi Daredevils single handedly. He was bowling between 145 and 150 kmph speed!

Chasing a moderate and kind of easy target of 134, sure that Delhi would have thought they can easily finish the game. To their surprise, the Rawalpindi Express really became the bullet train and put lot of pressure on the batsman.

With 150 KMH and only less than .6 seconds to take a decision on whether to play the ball or to leave it, Sehwag played at the ball pitched on the off and swung away and took the edge to keeper. Break through in the 2nd ball of the innings.

In the third over, Gambhir playing a square cut of the short ball, gave a simple catch at point to David Hussey of Shoaib again. In the fifth over, de Villiers pulled the short ball from Akthar, that hit the top of the bat and went to mid wicket in the air where Taibu took an easy catch. The next ball was a straight inswinger and had Tiwari play in the back foot, hit the back pad, plumb in front of the wicket--wicket number for 4 for Akthar. Delhi were 28 for 4 in the 5th over.

Man of the Match List

Points Table

Akhtar provided the great break throughs and rattled the top order. It is now up to other bwolwers to utilize this and take the remaining wickets.

Dhawan lost his off stump off Dinda for 7 and left Delhi at 43 for 5. Dilshan and Mishra played some good shots and resisted the victory for Kolkata. Their 24 run partnershp for the 6th wicket for a shortwhile created panic in Kolkata group, but soon the break through came in the form of run out. Dilshan ran for a quick single when Mishra playd the ball to short third man. Good throw by Shukla to Saha, who collected the ball and knocked the stumps. Close call for the third umpire, but he was found short of crease. Needless run!

Maharoof and Mishra tackled the bowling attack and started scoring few runs. Mishra hit 3 fours and scored useful 31 runs for his team. The game was still open at the end of 15 overs. Delhi needed 37 off 30 balls with 4 wickets in hand.

Maharoof got out in the 16th over last ball. The short ball hit him in the gloves and went to leg side where the bowler ran fast and picked it. Mishra started running and Maharoof started late, watching the ball, had to run faster! Dinda picked the ball, turned out and hit the stumps direct to send Maharoof back to the pavilion, a crucial wicket.

At the end of 17 overs, Delhi were 104 for 7, requiring 30 from 18 balls.

Shukla bowled the 18th over and finished the game by picking all the three wickets in the first five balls.

Mishra got out in the 2nd ball, trying to scoop over short fine leg where Ishanth took an easy catch.

Sangwan got out in the next ball, trying to slog it over long on, but hit straight to fielder Hussey.

Mahesh, the last batsman, moving way across to the off stump, trying to scoop over fine leg, missed the line and his middle stump was uprooted, giving 2 points to Kolkata Knight Riders. Sharukhan was dancing and asking all spectators to support the home team by chanting, clapping and shouting. He was dancing and encouraging the crowd.

Akhtar ended his bowling figures 3-0-11-4 and Shukla a dream figure of 0.5-0-6-3.

Earlier, winning the toss and batting first, Kolkata played a slow inniings. Salman Butt played a very slow innings, not timing the ball. He hit few fours, though, but not a convincing innings. He was the top scorer with 48 runs off 44 balls with 7 fours.

Chopra was the first to go, caught by Maharoof off Sangwan for 13. Ganguly hit a six off a free hit, but got out in the same over, trying to slog, lost his stump.

Then, Hussey, the man in form, joined Butt. They added 40 for the third wicket in 38 balls. Butt was caught by McGrath off Mahesh. Taibu and Shukla got out cheaply for 7 and 10 respectively.

Hussey hit two sixes to take the score to a reasonable level. He was out for 31 off 31 balls with 2 sixes. Kolkata finished their innings with 133 on the board.

Shoaib Akhtar rightly chosen as the man of the match for his 4 for 11 in 3 overs. This is his first appearance in the IPL, playing after few months of cricket and going through tough times of ban, court cases, etc.

Match 35
Venue: Kolkata
Date: May 13, 2008
Teams: Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils
Captains: Sourav Ganguly and Virendra Sehwag
Toss: Kolkata Knight Riders and decided to bat
Result: Kolkata Knight Riders won by 23 runs
Man of the Match: Shoaib Akhtar off Kolkata Knight Riders (Pakistan)
Points: Kolkata Knight Riders-2; Delhi Daredevils-0
Score:

Kolkata Knight Riders 133 for 6 in 20 overs (Salman Butt 48, A Chopra 13, SC Ganguly 7, DJ Hussey 31, T Taibu 7, LR Shukla 10, WP Saha 5 not out, Iqbal Abdulla 1 not out, Extras-11 (lb 3, wide 7, nb 1), GD McGrath 4-0-22-0, P Sangwan 4-0-29-1, VY Mahesh 4-0-34-2, MF Maharoof 4-0-25-2, A Mishra 3-0-13-0, V Sehwag 1-0-7-0) beat Delhi Daredevils 110 all out in 17.5 overs (G Gambhir 10, V Sehwag 0, AB de Villiers 7, MK Tiwary 9, S Dhawan 7, TM Dilshan 25, A Mishra 31, MF Maharoof 10, VY Mahesh 3, P Sangwan 0, GD McGrath 0 not out, Extras-8 (lb 1, wide 7), Shoaib Akhtar 3-0-11-4, I Sharma 3-0-18-0, AB Dinda 4-0-29-1, SC Ganguly 4-0-23-0, Iqbal Abdulla 3-0-22-0, LR Shukla 0.5-0-6-3)

Man of the Match List

Points Table

Match 29: Kolkata Wins Finally!

In a rain curtailed match, Kolkata Knight Riders finally tasted a win after a gap of 4 matches. It was unusual to rain in Kolkata in this season, but it did not stop the match.

Though pitch report said fielding first is the best options, both the captains thought otherwise. Winning the toss, Ganguly decided to bat first citing the outfield as reason. The overs were reduced to 16 per side with each bowler can bowl a maximum of 3 with an exception one bowler who can bowl maximum of 4 overs.

Chopra and Hodge opened the innings. The scoreboard did not move as Ganguly expected. Steyn got Chopra in front of the wicket for 2 in his 2nd over. In the same over, Ganguly and Hodge scored a four each. Hodge was out in the next over, pulled a short ball that went straight into the hands of Vinaykumar at deep square leg.

The inform batsman David Hussey hit a four and a six in the fifth over to take the score to 36 for 2. Ganguly trying to get his form, was not successful in this match also. He was out in the 8th over, going for a quick single, but found himself short of crease. He played with soft hands and the fielder White hit the stumps direct. Ganguly was out for 20 off 22 balls with 2 fours.

The first Zimbabwe player to play in this IPL is Taibu. David Hussey gave some hopes for Kolkata by hitting two continuous sixes of Kumble. He could have judged the second run better. After two sixes, the next ball went to square leg of the pads. He looked for second run, but Steyn sent a good throw from the deep straight to keeper who just knocked off the stumps. Hussey scored 26 off 12 balls a four and 3 sixes.

Taibu got out in the 12th over, caught by Boucher of Steyn, trying to pull the ball, but it took top edge. He hit 2 fours in his 15 off 12 balls. In the same over, Shukla hit two fours off Steyn and bowled in the next ball through inner edge.

At the end of 12 overs, Kolkata were 89 for 6 and added just 6 runs each in the next two overs. With two more overs to go, they were 101 for 6.

Sure that Bangalore would have eyed a win at this stage of the game. Zaheer Khan gave away 14 runs in the next over including 2 fours. Kumar's next over added another 14 to total with 2 huge sixes.

The match saw a confusin when umpires said that Steyn cannot bowl as Praveen Kumar already completed his four. Only one bowler can bowl and Praveen already did that. Everyone thought Rahul made a mistake in his calculations. Finally he was correct as the scorers made a mistake by adding a over to Vinay Kumar instead of Praveen Kumar.

Kolkata ended their innings with 129 for 7, losing Karthik in the last over.

Bangalore could have won this game if they had gone agains the bowler at least from 5th over. They were playing it like a test game. Though Ishanth Sharma was firing from one end, they could have picked other bowlers.

Chandrapaul got out trying to slog, caught at mid on by Murali Karthik of Sharma. End of four overs, Bangalore were 19 for 1.

The hopes were brought back for few balls by Arun Kumar, who hit 3 fours of Umar Gul. With 12 runs alredy in the over, he could have played sensible, waiting for the strike. Pushing the ball to point, he went for a quick single, but the fielder Hodge sent a direct hit to send him back.

With two new batsman in the crease, the run rate dropped below 6. The 6th, 7th and 8th over added 3 runs each to the score. At the end of 8 overs, Bangalore were 41 for 3. Ganguly was bowling a good line at one end giving away just 5 runs of his 2 overs.

Murali Karhik was brought in and that over added 10 and Bangalore crossed 50.

Bangalore needed 80 runs in 42 balls with 8 wickets end. What were they doing? They have to win this game and have to throw the bat.

Ganguly bowled Dravid in the first ball of the 10th over. Dravid played a paddle sweep and missed the ball, which uprooted his leg stump. "DADA" was celebrating along with Kolkata crowd. He gave just 2 runs in that over to complete his spell of 3 overs giving away 7 runs and taking a wicket. End of 10 overs, Bangalore struggling at 53 for 3.

White and Boucher tried their bit. White became dangerous as he hit a four and six of Shukla and gave momentum. The 11th over added 15 to the total. The 12th over added 8 to the total with a four by Boucher.

Umar Gul's next over added 15 to the total. Last three overs were good for Bangalore. White hit two fours off Gul to take the score 91 for 3 and requiring 40 in 3 overs.

Ishanth, having two overs, was rightly brought back. He gave five runs to change the equation to 35 in two overs.

Karthik was brought back. This is a crucial over. Boucher played the first ball back to bowler, but White started the run. Karthik easily knocked the stumps to run out White for 30 off 16 balls with 3 fours and a six.

Boucher decided to against Murali Karthik. He hit a four, six and another four, a single. This over added 15 runs, but they should have added more.

Last over, 20 runs needed, Ishanth to bowl, Boucher on strike. First ball was a four.
No run of the next ball, the next two balls were 2 runs each. Two balls 12 runs. Boucher scores a single to midwicket. The entire Eden Garden goes wild. Praveen Kumar hits a four of last ball, but that was useless at this stage. Bangalore lost by 5 runs.

Ganguly for his wonderful spell of 3-0-7-1 was declared man of the match.

Match 29
Venue: Kolkata
Date: May 8, 2008
Teams: Kolkata Knight Riders and Bangalore Royal Challengers
Captains: Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid
Toss: Kolkata Knight Riders and decided to bat
Result: Kolkata Knight Riders won by 5 runs
Man of the Match: Sourav Ganguly off Kolkata Knight Riders (India)
Points: Kolkata Knight Riders-2; Bangalore Royal Challengers-0
Score:
Kolkata Knight Riders 129 for 7 in 16 overs (A Chopra 2, BJ Hodge 10, SC Ganguly 20, DJ Hussey 26, T Taibu 15, LR Shukla 11, WP Saha 17 not out, M Kartik 17, Umar Gul 6 not out, Extras—5 (lb 3, wide 2), DW Steyn 4-0-27-3, Z Khan 3-0-27-1, P Kumar 3-0-36-1, R Vinay Kumar 3-0-15-0, A Kumble 3-0-21-0) beat Bangalore Royal Challengers 124 for 4 in 16 overs (J Arunkumar 22, S Chanderpaul 7, MV Boucher 50 not out, R Dravid 5, CL White 30, P Kumar 4 not out, Extras-6 (lb 3, wide 2, nb 1), AB Dinda 3-0-20-0, I Sharma 4-0-25-1, Umar Gul 3-0-30-0, SC Ganguly 3-0-7-1, M Kartik 2-0-24-0, LR Shukla 1-0-15-0)

Match 16: Mumbai enters Points Table! Wins at last!

At last, Mumbai Wins!

Mumbai tasted its first victor in the inagural T20 tournament of IPL. They beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 7 wickets.

For Mumbai Indians, Pollock lead it from the front. Once again Sachin did not play the game. With Harbhajan banned from the IPL, it was Pollock who lead the team once again. But, this team, he gave a victory to Mumbai.

Except for the toss, nothing went right for Ganguly. He thought the wicket was good for batting and wanted to put a high score in the board. But that needed a good start and improving the momentum in the middle overs and good sloggin in the final overs.

Pollock bowled the first over and provided two crucial break throughs. He dismissed Ganguly after being hit for a four, caught brilliantly at 2nd slip, the only fielder in the slip region. Then, he dismissed Brendon McCullum, leg before, for 1. It was a dream start, the one Mumbai wanted.

Ponting, playing his last match and is returning to Australia for West Indies tour, was expected to play a big innings. So far, he did not play a big innings and contribute in a big way.

It was Das who played fe good shots and maintained a good run rate. He hit two consecutive fours of Nehra and then huge six of Pollock.

Ricky Ponting was struggling at one end. He was not able to time the ball or go for big shots.

Das was caught at point when he tried to drive the raising delivery of Bravo. When he was out, the score was 40 for 3. Both Ponting and David Hussey found it difficult to move forward. At the end of 10 overs, they were 60 for 3. Mumbai needed some depsarate firing and increase the run rate.

Hussey opened up by hitting a four in cover off Pollock. That over added 11 runs. But, in the 11th over bowled by Jayasuriya, he got David Hussey caught at deep by Nehra.

Two overs later, Jayasuria in addition to striking twice had bowled a maiden over. He got Hussey caught by Nehra. A poor calling by Hafeez, made Ponting run out. He called "yes" initiated the running and suddenly said "no", but ponting couldn't go back on time. He was out on a time when he was just getting momentum. In the same over, Hafeez was caught by Shah. Shukla was the lone fighter, scoring 40 not out off 22 deliveries with 4 fours and 2 sixes. Knight Riders ended their innings at 137.

Chasing an easy target, Mumbai Indians though looked like started well, actually were struggling at 25 for 3. Jayasuriya blasted few fours, but Ishanth Sharma sent his off stump flying through a beautiful inswinger.

Rahane was the first to go caught at deep fine leg by David Hussey for 4 and Pandey was bowled through an inner edge didn't score at all.

But, Bravo and Robin Uthappa played a very sensible innings. They did not take any risk, but ensure that they were scoring runs

Bravo reached his 50 off 42 balls with 7 fours and a six. On the other hand, Uthappa played some good shots.

Both of them ensured that Mumbai Indians to open their account in the points table.

Score:

Match 16
Venue: Kolkata
Date: April 29, 2008
Teams: Kolkata Knight Riders v. Mumbai Indians
Captains: Sourav Ganguly and Shaun Pollock
Toss: Kolkata Knight Riders and decided to bat
Result: Mumbai Indians won by 7 wickets with 8 balls remaining
Man of the Match: Sanath Jayasuria of Mumbai Indians (Sri Lanka)
Points: Mumbai Indians-2; Kolkata Knight Riders-0
Score:
Kolkata Knight Riders 137 for 8 in 20 overs (BB McCullum 1, SC Ganguly 4, RT Ponting 19, DB Das 29, DJ Hussey 17, Mohammad Hafeez 2, LR Shukla 40 not out, AB Agarkar 2, M Kartik 10, I Sharma 0 not out, Extras 13--b 1, lb 5, wide 7, SM Pollock 4-0-27-2, A Nehra 1-0-9-0, CRD Fernando 4-0-41-1, DS Kulkarni 3-0-15-0, DJ Bravo 4-0-25-1, ST Jayasuriya 4-1-14-3) lost to Mumbai Indians 138 fo 3 in 18.4 overs (AM Rahane 4, ST Jayasuriya 18, M Pandey 0, RV Uthappa 37 not out, DJ Bravo 64 not out, Extras 15--lb 5, wide 9, nb 1, AB Agarkar 4-0-23-1, I Sharma 3.4-0-33-1, AB Dinda 4-0-12-1, M Kartik 3-0-24-0, Mohammad Hafeez 1-0-16-0, SC Ganguly 2-0-14-0, LR Shukla 1-0-11-0)