Sourav Ganguly continues to be an enigma. At 37, he baffles with his fitness, not to mention his cricketing skills. If Shane Warne’s inspirational leadership had tilted the scales Rajasthan Royals’ way a couple of days back, Wednesday was all about the Kolkata Knight Riders’ captain.
Shah Rukh Khan wasn’t around to witness a rollicking Eden Gardens but his team won by 15 runs to live another day and keep their chances for a semi-final spot alive.
Shah Rukh and Juhi Chawla weren’t around to cheer the team as the latter’s brother, who is a close business associate of Shah Rukh, is very ill. Korbo lorbo jeetbo has been more of a fading theme but it suddenly seemed to come alive courtesy Sourav’s magic wand.
Besides the solid 56 off 46 balls, his direct hit from mid-off did Gautam Gambhir in and gave the first indication of a turnaround after the DareDevils captain and Virender Sehwag had threatened to take it away with a 99 run partnership for the second wicket.
The way Sourav managed to hide the limitations in the attack with intelligent bowling changes, the way he threw himself all over the field to stop the extra run, the agility and reflex he showed in collecting Kedar Jadhav’s catch at short cover, the way he inspired the little-knowns like Ashok Dinda and Iqbal Abdulla… There was no stopping Sourav on the day.
Chasing 182, the DareDevils were in cruise control till the 15th over. Virender Sehwag chose to return to form after surviving a confident caught behind appeal in the third over apart from a couple of dropped chances. But once he left, the visitors messed it up.
In the inaugural year, one Shoaib Akhtar had won it for the Knights against the same opposition at the Eden. Ashok Dinda did bring back such memories, dismissing David Warner with the fifth ball of the innings but he is no Shoaib.
With Sehwag (64 off 40 balls) and Gambhir (47 off 29 balls) threatening to take it away from the hosts, bowling inadequacies came to the fore. Shane Bond’s exclusion meant that the Knights were a strike bowler short. Murali Kartik’s unavailability, because of a back injury complicated matters.
Angelo Mathews was having a bad day with the ball and Dinda and Ajantha Mendis were the saving grace. But Sourav didn’t dare to expose the spinner to a brutal Sehwag.
Dinda (2/21) and Mendis (2/22) returned respectable figures to finally provide some respite to consultant Wasim Akram after the nightmares of the last game.
If a 94-run opening partnership had set it up well for the Knights, an unbroken 70-run stand for the fourth wicket in the final stages resurrected their fortunes after a mid-innings lull.
Sourav and Gayle complement each other well with their contrasting styles. While one is all about the sublime touch and artistry, the other uses brute force to badger the opposition.
The Knights’ captain got his feet moving early, easing the ball past slip with a delicate late cut before taking the aerial route. Three boundaries came in Daniel Vettori’s opening over as Gautam Gambhir was forced to shuffle his bowlers early in the innings.
Amit Mishra tried to stem the flow in his first over, tying up Sourav with a predominantly leg stump line and mixing his googlies intelligently. Gayle, though, wasn’t impressed and decided to step on the accelerator.
Gayle chose his favourite region, over long-on, to hoist Mishra and Rajat Bhatia for his two sixes. That part of the stadium is under renovation and has now come to be known as Gayle-land with the West Indian burying at least half-a-dozen balls in that region in the last two matches.
Eden was bracing up for another Gayle blitz when Bhatia exacted revenge with a slower one. Sourav followed nine balls later, done in by Vettori’s flight as he attempted the slog sweep a bit too early.
In recording his third half-century in the current edition, Sourav took 42 deliveries before settling for 56 with eight delectable boundaries and a six. Gayle’s 40 took 21 balls.
Brendon McCullum’s debut in IPL III lasted a mere seven balls. His acrobatic last-ditch effort had saved him from being run out off the first ball he faced but Vettori didn’t give him a second chance. The New Zealander was one of the four changes that the Knights rung in to revive their fortunes.
For the second time this season, Sourav Ganguly was fined for Kolkata Knight Riders' slow over-rate during their 14-run win against Delhi Daredevils here at the Eden Gardens last night.
The Knight Riders were assessed to be two overs behind their required over rate.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) fined captain Ganguly 40,000 dollars, while each player in the team had to shell out 10,000 dollars.
This is the second time that Ganguly was fined for slow over-rate in the IPL this year and another repeated offence could mean that the opener will have to sit out of his team's next match.
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