Sport

Knight Riders wins low-scoring match

— Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

THROUGH THE GATE: Scott Styris of Deccan Chargers has no answer to this one from Mohd. Hafeez of Knight Riders.

KOLKATA: The very essence of a Twenty20 match is entertainment unlimited, on the pitch and off it.

But an atrocious Eden Gardens pitch made sure flamboyance and free-stroking batsmanship took the back-seat in a low-scoring game between Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday.

The 70,000-strong spectator turnout, on an unusually hot and humid day, had reasons to feel cheated by the show in the middle. The only solace for the local crowd was its team won the game by five wickets for its second victory in the DLF-Indian Premier League.

David Hussey, a known belter of the ball, curbed his natural instincts to gather a very vital 38 runs off 43 balls to emerge the Man of the Match.

Chasing Deccan Chargers 110 in 18.4 overs, Knight Riders finished the match at 112 for five in 19 overs.

Deccan Chargers’ captain V.V.S. Laxman termed the pitch as a “shocking wicket, not fit for this form of the game” in his post-match briefing. Despite the loss, he was pleased with his team’s display. “It was a team effort,” he said.

Openers Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds, the two batsmen expected to lead the Hyderabad team’s charge, was bogged down after the loss of Y. Venugopala Rao and captain Laxman.

It was indeed a Herculean task to bat on this pitch. The Hyderabad batsmen ploughed on, with Gilchrist and Symonds getting 23 and 32 runs off 22 and 39 balls respectively.

Wickets fell at regular intervals giving the bowlers an upper hand, every Kolkata bowler coming up with good figures except Hussey. Kartik was the pick with his accurate left-arm spin.

If everyone, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka and her family, Bollywood stars and the King among all, Shah Rukh Khan, thought the victory target of 111 would be achieved easily, it was not to be as Deccan Chargers picked up two early wickets, that of Brendon McCullum for five and Ricky Ponting for 16.

After Wriddhiman Saha, promoted to open, fell for 10 at 21, it looked as if the home team would be in great trouble.

Skipper Sourav Ganguly and David Hussey added very crucial 47 runs to prop up the innings. Ganguly, known to play his lofted shots with elan, waited for the spinners to come but fell in trying to hoist left-armer Pragyan Ojha.

Hussey and Mohammad Hafeez added 20 more runs before the latter went out for 13 runs. At 89 for five, the Eden Gardens floodlights failed owing to power failure, stopping play for 27 minutes.

When play resumed, Hussey produced a massive six and a glance for four off Scott Styris (18th) to ensure Kolkata Knight Riders sailed to victory with an over to spare.

The scores:

Deccan Chargers: A. Gilchrist c Hafeez b Kartik 23, Y. Venugopala Rao c Kartik b Sharma 14, V.V.S. Laxman c Shukla b Dinda 0, A. Symonds c Hussey b Agarkar 32, R. Sharma c Saha b Kartik 0, S. Styris b Hafeez 6, A. Yadav c Dinda b Hussey 10, S. Bangar c Saha b Kartik 14, C. Vaas c Ganguly b Agarkar 0, R.P. Singh (not out) 1, P. Ojha (run out) 0; Extras (lb-4, w-4, nb-2): 10; Total (in 18.4 overs): 110.

Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-22, 3-47, 4-47, 5-58, 6-71, 7-104, 8-105, 9-110.

Kolkata Knight Riders bowling: Dinda 3-0-18-1, I. Sharma 3-1-9-1, Agarkar 2-0-19-2, Kartik 3.4-0-17-3, Hafeez 4-0-8-1, Hussey 3-0-35-1.

Kolkata Knight Riders: W. Saha c Styris b Vaas 10, B. McCullum c R. Sharma b R.P. Singh 5, R. Ponting lbw b Vaas 0, S. Ganguly b Ojha 14, D. Hussey (not out) 38, Md. Hafeez c Symonds b Ojha 13, L.R. Shukla (not out) 4; Extras (b-4, lb-8, w-15, nb-1): 28; Total (for five in 19 overs): 112.

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-16, 3-21, 4-68, 5-88.

Deccan Chargers bowling: Vaas 3-0-9-2, R.P. Singh 3-0-15-1, Styris 4-0-19-0, Bangar 3-0-19-0, Symonds 2-0-20-0, Ojha 4-0-18-2.

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