Kings XI Punjab v/s Kolkata Knight Riders Toss Kings XI Punjab, who chose to bat first Result Kings XI Punjab won by 9 runs Player of the match IK Pathan (Kings XI Punjab) Incisive new-ball spells in helpful conditions by Irfan Pathan and Sreesanth ensured several trends continued - Kings XI Punjab maintained their momentum with a fourth successive win while the Kolkata Knight Riders slumped to their fourth straight defeat. Both innings were characterised by late bursts. Punjab hit 21 off their final over which put the match just beyond the reach of Kolkata, who scored 75 off overs 15 to 19, but still fell nine short after a sluggish start. After Sreesanth removed Sourav Ganguly, slashing to Pathan at third man, Pathan struck twice in one over to leave Kolkata reeling. Pathan has always been a dangerous bowler when he gets the ball swinging back into the right-hand batsman and Mohammad Hafeez and Brad Hodge fell in the space of five balls. Sreesanth added Debradata Das to make it 29 for 4 after five overs, the most wickets to fall in that space of time in the tournament, and when VRV Singh bowled Laxmi Ratan Shukla at 50 for 5, Kolkata seemed to b  e heading for a massive defeat. David Hussey and young Wriddhiman Saha, however, had other ideas. The pair started slowly, playing out a couple of overs before Hussey took Gagandeep Singh, who had bowled two very tidy overs, for 17 runs, including a massive six over long-on. There was another quiet over before the pair really turned it on. The big hits were complemented by agile running between the wickets and they brought the equation down to 55 off 18 deliveries. James Hopes, back after missing three games, served up several full tosses which were promptly deposited into the crowd and when Gagandeep was taken for 18 in the penultimate over, the equation had come down to 19 off the last six balls, after Hussey was dismissed for a 46-ball 71. Pathan kept his nerve and sent down a mix of yorkers and low full tosses and despite some big swings only four runs came off the first three balls. There was no fairytale ending for Kolkata. After Punjab chose to bat, several of their batsmen failed to capitalise on their starts - three of their top five got into double digits but didn't make it to 20. Hopes, coming in for Ramnaresh Sarwan, carved a few powerful boundaries square on the offside before top-edging Ashok Dinda to mid-on. Yuvraj Singh looked imperious, as in the previous game, plundering 14 off an Hafeez over before over-balancing to be stumped and Mahela Jayawardene lofted a huge six over midwicket before miscuing a bouncer from Umar Gul to mid-on. Shaun Marsh, fresh from his match-winning IPL debut against Deccan Chargers, kept his composure at the other end to make a pleasing 40. There were some crisp drives in his knock, with one through the covers off Dinda early on standing out. He was stumped, missing a flighted delivery from Hussey, as Kolkata started to gain the upper hand. When Karan Goel was run out a couple of overs later, Punjab had slid to 106 for 5 from 82 to 1. Kumar Sangakkara, who retired on 10 with a side strain, returned to lead the fightback with Pathan. He again demonstrated the importance of timing and placement in Twenty20 before departing for 28, bowled by Gul, who at US$150,000 is providing competition to Shane Watson for being the bargain buy of the IPL. Pathan remained unbeaten on 24, but the acceleration at the end was provided by Piyush Chawla, who hit three fours and a six off Ishant Sharma's final over. It has been a stunning resurgence from Punjab, who after being bottom of the table after two games are now tied for top spot. Kolkata, though, have gone in the opposite direction, dropping from table-toppers to four points behind the teams in the semi-final places. |
Showing posts with label Kolkata Knight Riders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kolkata Knight Riders. Show all posts
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Punjab surge to fourth successive win
Friday, May 2, 2008
Ganguly, Warne fined 10 per cent of match fees
Kolkata Knight Riders captain Sourav Ganguly has been issued an official reprimand and fined him 10 per cent of his match-fee for showing dissent on the field during the Indian Premier League match against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur on Thursday. A statement from the Board of Control for Cricket in India said Match Referee Farookh Engineer reprimanded Ganguly and also fined him. "Ganguly's act of prevailing upon Mr Pratap Kumar, the on-field umpire, to refer a decision to the TV umpire, constitutes a Level I offence as per the ICC's Code of Conduct," the statement added. Ganguly had asked for a third umpire referral on his catch that South Africa captain Graeme Smith took during the match, which Rajasthan Royals won by 45 runs. After the match Royals' captain Shane Warne lashed out at Ganguly, saying he would lodge a complaint against his counterpart for resorting to time-wasting tactics during the match and refusing to accept the fielder's word on a "clean catch". For his outburst, Warne too was reprimanded and fined as much as Ganguly. Engineer felt Warne was guilty of violating Section 1.7 of the ICC's Code of Conduct, which deals with 'public criticism of, or inappropriate comment on a match-related incident or official', which constitutes a Level I offence. Engineer also suspended Kumar for one match on the grounds that there was no reason for him to accede to Ganguly's request to consult the television umpire. |
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Rajasthan take fourth consecutive win
Rajasthan Royals v/s Kolkata Knight Riders Toss Rajasthan Royals, who chose to bat first Result Rajasthan Royals won by 45 runs Player of the match SA Asnodkar (Rajasthan Royals) An irrepressible Rajasthan Royals side got their fourth successive win of the tournament and nudged past Delhi to second place in the points table with a 45-run win over a listless Kolkata Knight Riders. 'All the King's men' might be Kolkata's advertising tagline, referring to team owner Shah Rukh Khan, but here it was a more apt description of Shane Warne and his team. His decision to bat first - allowing his bowlers respite from the Jaipur heat - was justified by attacking half-centuries from debutant Swapnil Asnodkar and Yusuf Pathan, and disciplined bowling by the Rajasthan quicks. Kolkata felt the absence of Brendon McCullum and Ricky Ponting, who left for the upcoming Test series in the West Indies, as they slumped to their third defeat in a row. In the only other match in which they chased, Kolkata needed 111 to win, a far less daunting target than the 197 they were set to chase today. Rajasthan's preferred method has been to chase a target, but this time Warne changed the tactic, and Asnodkar, who opened the innings with Graeme Smith, got into his stride immediately. He cut, drove and slogged for his 60, playing cautiously against Ishant Sharma and Umar Gul - who eventually had him caught trying to pull - and targeting the wayward Ashok Dinda and Ajit Agarkar. He hit Agarkar for three successive fours and reached his fifty off 29 balls. Yusuf, who also got to his fifty off 29 balls, added 53 with Asnodkar. He went after David Hussey's insipid spin and Agarkar's short-of-length deliveries and helped Rajasthan score 53 between overs 10 and 15. Yusuf got most of his runs by waiting on the back foot and hitting it powerfully to either side of the stumps. He reached his fifty with a massive six driven straight on to the roof. Ravindra Jadeja's cameo - 33 off 19 balls - helped Rajasthan to a competitive score. With the pitch being flat, Rajasthan's bowlers strove to maintain their line and length. Salman Butt was bowled when he inside-edged one from Sohail Tanvir that stayed low and came in. Agarkar, promoted to No. 3, was caught behind as he tried to cut a straight delivery from Shane Watson. Brad Hodge was run out at the non-striker's end after Siddharth Trivedi got a finger on to the ball off Sourav Ganguly's drive straight, and helped the ball onto the stumps. That brought together Ganguly and David Hussey, and though the two were out there long enough to build a partnership that could have set the platform for the chase, they found it hard to pierce the field. In the first four overs they batted together, Hussey and Ganguly hit one six each, but no fours. Ganguly was lucky to get off twice - a pull nearly caught at midwicket and a catch by Graeme Smith that was given not out after the third umpire, Asad Rauf, ruled that it might not have been taken cleanly - but fell when he tried to break loose. His 68-run partnership with Hussey was the only one of consequence in the Kolkata innings. Among the bowlers, Gul, playing his first game, was disciplined early on, bowling successive yorkers - his first two overs yielded two wickets for 15 runs. Ishant Sharma bowled straight and full, and didn't allow the Rajasthan batsmen to take too many liberties. Ganguly used seven bowlers, including himself, but was not always backed up in the field. Twice in the innings, the ball went past fielders who were in the process of collecting it. Rajasthan, on the other hand, were much sharper in the field. The manner in which the last wicket fell summed up their day: Warne and substitute fielder Taruwar Kohli both ran for the skier, Kohli managed to stretch to his left and grab it just as Warne collided with him. The two tumbled to the ground, but the ball was safely ensconced in Kohli's hand. In a side less inspired, this would have been the comic collision of the day; here, it was the last act of another polished performance. |
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Kolkata waiting for IPL stand on Shoaib
New Delhi: Despite the PCB making it clear that the ban on fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar does not stand in the way of him representing Kolkata Knight Riders, the team would rather wait for further clarification from the governing council of the IPL, Joy Bhattacharya, marketing head of the Shah Rukh Khan-owned franchise, told CNN-IBN on Wednesday. "Any player joining us from within our group is good news. But we haven't got any official word and we would just like to have that. But it is not the question of one franchisee but the IPL themselves. They have a rule and code of conduct and once we clear all that then only the franchisee comes into play," Bhattacharya said. He further said, "It is not the question of just us. Firstly, it would be Pakistan Cricket Board giving us the formal intimation to us and then the IPL looking into it. And only after those two hurdles are crossed, we would be more than happy to review where we can play him." Earlier, the PCB had denied Shoaib Akhtar to play in the cash-rish domestic Twenty20 competition backed by the BCCI. The IPL organising committee, too, had clarified that Shoaib won't be able to play as his board had banned him from plying his trade not just in Pakistan, but elsewhere too. "Now, there is a need to a formal intervention from the PCB to the IPL and then it would be from the IPL to the individual franchises and from there on we will taking it forward," Bhattacharya said. Referring to the recent controversy and the subsequent ban on Mumbai Indians player Harbhajan Singh, Bhattacharya said Kolkata would be cautious before taking any decision. "We have to be very careful in observing all the codes and the guidelines of the IPL. If we have bid for him, we want him on our team but as you must have seen the IPL till now, they are very strict as far as the code of conduct is concerned. "Shoaib wants to be a part of the team. We will have to look at his physical fitness and then we will take a decision to play him. But whatever we want or we would like, everything depends on what the IPL decides and we would be abide by the IPL laws," he concluded. |
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Teamwork earns Mumbai first win
Inspired by Sanath Jayasuriya's 3 for 14, the best figures of the tournament, the Mumbai Indians put their off-field troubles aside and pulled off their first win. On a slow Eden Gardens pitch, though not the minefield of the previous game, Mumbai had a nervy start and were 25 for 3 before Dwayne Bravo and Robin Uthappa put on a century stand to see them home. After Kolkata Knight Riders chose to bat, Mumbai's stand-in captain Shaun Pollock stunned the huge crowd, removing local hero Sourav Ganguly and the dangerous Brendon McCullum in the first over. Ganguly chased at a wide delivery and only managed a thick edge that was smartly held by Jayasuriya at wide slip. McCullum was trapped lbw for 1 two balls later, leaving Kolkata at 6 for 2. The early momentum was provided by Twenty20 debutant Debabrata Das. Pollock was hit over midwicket for a big six and three leg-side fours followed in the next couple of overs. Das favoured the cut and got his innings going with two of them off Ashish Nehra in the second over, but another one off Dwayne Bravo flew straight to Robin Uthappa at point. Bravo kept it just short of a length and outside off, giving away only four runs in two overs. Ponting and David Hussey consolidated for a couple of overs with singles and the odd boundary. Ponting was unable to get his timing right or middle the ball, and Hussey tried to up the tempo slamming Pollock for two fours. Jayasuriya, tossing it up instead of firing it in as he usually does, broke the partnership by luring Hussey into swiping one to mid-on in the 11th over for 17. His next over, a maiden, saw two wickets fall as well. A run-out put Ponting out of his misery and two balls later Mohammad Hafeez nicked one to the wicketkeeper Pinal Shah as Kolkata slid to 77 for 6. Laxmi Ratan Shukla, who revived Kolkata batting with a quick 42 against the Chennai Super Kings, was called on to rescue his team yet again. He smashed two fours and a six each off Bravo and Dilhara Fernando as 44 runs were scored in the last four overs. Despite the below-par score, Kolkata refused to surrender and their new-ball bowlers gave them an excellent start. Ajit Agarkar had Ajinkya Rahane chipping to midwicket in the third over and, at the other end, Jayasuriya was in a fascinating battle with Ishant Sharma. After several swings-and-misses and powerful hits to the boundary, Ishant sent Jayasuriya's off stump cartwheeling. Manish Pandey then fell for a duck to the impressive Ashok Dinda and, at 25 for 3, Mumbai were in danger of squandering their advantage. Uthappa and Bravo, though, carried them to victory with a century stand for the fourth wicket as the spinners were unable to carry on the good work of the fast bowlers. Uthappa had a chancy start - Das grassed a sharp chance at point, and there were several close shouts for lbw - before he unfurled some horizontal-bat shots and his favourite paddle. Bravo played a stylish knock in which two shots early on stood out - an audacious back-foot square-drive off Ishant and a cracking lofted on-drive off Hafeez. They were some lovely straight hits as well in his unbeaten 64 - the highest score by a Mumbai batsman in the tournament. The win, and news that their icon Sachin Tendulkar is likely to be fit for the next game, is a relief for Mumbai, who lost their first four games and will miss the services of US$850,000 signing Harbhajan Singh for the rest of the tournament after his row with Sreesanth during the match against the Kings XI Punjab. After a thumping start, Kolkata's magic looks to be wearing out. None of their batsmen, besides McCullum, have made a half-century and, to make matters worse, they will be missing much of their batting firepower after this game - McCullum and Ricky Ponting leave to fulfil international commitments while a groin injury has forced Chris Gayle out of the tournament. |
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