By Suneer Chowdhary
On a pitch that was clearly not conducive to shot-making, the Super Kings overcame a very sluggish start to post 114 for four in their 20 overs at the Eden Gardens. And the way the pitch played out through the duration of the time, this could be an interesting chase.
Published: May 07, 2011, 06:54 PM (IST)
Edited: May 07, 2011, 06:54 PM (IST)
Kolkata Knight Riders bowler Yusuf Pathan celebrates the wicket of Chennai Super Kings batsman Suresh Raina. © AFP
By Suneer Chowdhary
Kolkata: May 7, 2011
On a pitch that was clearly not conducive to shot-making, the Super Kings overcame a very sluggish start to post 114 for four in their 20 overs at the Eden Gardens. And the way the pitch played out through the duration of the time, this could be an interesting chase.
MS Dhoni’s strategy in this tournament has usually been to bat first, start slow and do maximum damage in the last quarter of the innings. It was a surprise, though, to have him bat first after he won the toss in a game that was pushed back by one hour due to rain.
Not only was there a chance of rain reducing the overs later – to which Dhoni said that he felt it wouldn’t rain – but the slowness of the pitch could make it difficult for the batsmen to realise the par-score for the pitch.
After having sent down a poor last over of the previous game, that cost the Knight Riders their game to Kochi, Brett Lee seemed to have come in his own on the slow Eden Gardens surface.
He was accorded a three-over spell by captain Gautam Gambhir and while he did not pick up any wicket, he did everything apart from that. Only five runs came from those three overs and to go with Iqbal Abdulla’s sending back of Murali Vijay, the Super Kings had been stifled. His fourth over at the end cost only three more.
Yusuf Pathan had Suresh Raina caught at mid-wicket in the sixth over as the Super Kings ended the six-over mark at 15 for two – their worst this tournament. Bafflingly, there was no boundary hit in the first six overs of the game.
Not that the things changed too much in the next four.
Three successive overs after the field restrictions were lifted, the Super Kings got five runs each and it was only in the tenth over that S Badrinath finally freed him arms. The first boundary was also a six that went over the long-on fence to take Chennai to 40 for two in ten overs.
Soon after though, Hussey’s long, but painstakingly slow vigil at the crease ended as he pulled a slower ball from L Balaji to mid-wicket.
The second half of the innings was definitely more fruitful for the Super Kings. Dhoni sent Albie Morkel up the order and together with Badrinath, the ante was upped.
Pathan’s last ball of his quota was pulled straighter than the previous two dismissal-strokes, while Morkel sent two through long-off and extra-cover – all three going to the fence.
Abdulla finished off his four overs in the 16th of the innings, conceding only four in that over and while Badrinath slammed his second six off the next, the Super Kings got to their 100 only in the 19th over.
Badrinath’s fine run of form continued as he got to his half century, before being run-out off the last ball of the game. His 54 came off 41 balls and in an innings where the run-rate did not touch six, it was a mighty effort.
Brief Scores: CSK 114 for 4 in 20 overs (Subramaniam Badrinath 54, Albie Morkel 30*; Iqbal Abdulla 1 for 15, Yusuf Pathan 1 for 25, Lakshmipathy Balaji 1 for 26) vs KKR.
(Suneer is a Mumbai-based cricket writer and can be contacted at suneerchowdhary@gmail.com and Tweets here: @suneerchowdhary)
