Thursday, 21 May 2009

The story of taking suicidal run continued as yet another batsman got out in the process. KKR wicketkeeper Shoaib Shaikh was the latest victim of this trend as he ran himself out when sanity should be the order of the hour. Shaikh made only 6. After 14 overs, KKR were languishing on 60/6.

An excellent glove-work by wicketkeeper Naman Ojha helped Royals take fourth KKR wicket in in-form Bradley Hodge. Naman ran Hodge out when the batsman tried to steal a single after dabbing a ball to the off-side. After 8 overs, KKR were struggling at 35/4. A brilliant catch by Rob Quiney helped Rajasthan Royals send fourth batman to the pavilion in Yashpal Singh. Singh made a scratchy 20-ball 6 before becoming Munaf Patel’s second victim of the match. After 5 overs, KKR were 25/3.

Despite having made a paltry 101, Rajasthan Royals started off sensationally as they sent two KKR batsmen packing inside first two overs. Munaf Patel first took the wicket of out-of-form Sourav Ganguly for a duck caught at point by Jadeja to inflict first blow to KKR. Then Amit Singh trapped captain Brendon McCullum in-front of the wickets for 9 with a ball that kept slightly low. A resurgent Kolkata Knight Riders came down heavily on Rajasthan Royals to restrict them to a meagre 101/9 in allotted 20 overs and might have dashed the hopes of the defending champions to qualify for the semi-finals. Charl Langeveldt, playing for the first time in the tournament, took the Kingsmead on fire by picking up 3 important wickets giving away just 15 runs in his quota of four overs. Rajasthan Royals got off to a horrendous start as they lost three quick wickets in Rob Quiney, Naman Ojha and Swapnil Asnodkar. It was Langeveldt who started the proceedings for the KKR, consuming Ojha and Quiney (1) quickly while Asnodkar (4) ran himself out. Ojha started well hitting 22 off just 12 balls, but became the second victim of Langeveldt.

It was a superb display of disciplined bowling and excellent fielding by the Shah Rukh Khan owned team a they effected two run-outs that triggered that middle-order collapse for the defending champions. Rajasthan Royals’ hopes of posting a fighting total dashed to the ground as they lost their most prolific batsman Yusuf Pathan for just 9 when he had a terrible mix-up with his partner Ravindra Jadeja. Immediately after that, Tyron Henderson, trying to take a suicidal run, was also ran out. David Hussey, from short cover, dislodge the timber directly. Henderson could not open his account.
Even old war horse Sourav Ganguly, not known for his fielding, pulled off an excellent catch to send Niraj Patel to the pavilion off the bowling of Charl Langeveldt for 14. Patel who was trying to resurrect the innings along with Yusuf Pathan tried to play a short delivery to the extra-cover only to lob it at extra-cover region where Ganguly running backward took a well-judged catch.

Ajit Agarkar (2/15) and Ashok Dinda (0/12) also bowled well. Agarkar bowled Johan Botha to give a resurgent Kolkata Knight Riders their fourth wicket inside 6 overs. Though Dinda bowled well, he was unlucky not to get wicket in his 4 overs, but gave away just 12 runs. Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Brendon McCullum won the toss and decided to field first in their last game of IPL season 2. Royals made a couple of changes to their side, Niraj Patel came in for Abhishek Raut and Tyron Henderson replaced Graeme Smith at the top. Kolkata too made a few changes. Langeveldt and Shaikh come in for this match.

Source: morungexpress.com