By Suneer Chowdhary
A strong start, a steady middle before an unleashing of Yusuf Pathan in the end combined with the forgettable day for the opening Bangalore bowlers allowed the Kolkata Knight Riders to pile 171 for five in their 20 overs.
Published: Apr 22, 2011, 05:38 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 22, 2011, 05:38 PM (IST)
SS
By Suneer Chowdhary
A strong start, a steady middle before an unleashing of Yusuf Pathan in the end combined with the forgettable day for the opening Bangalore bowlers allowed the Kolkata Knight Riders to pile 171 for five in their 20 overs. This, after the previous game on this ground had seen Kochi defend a sub-140 score.
Daniel Vettori won the toss and opted to field first, probably influenced by the cloudy conditions; a combination of allowing his seam bowlers some help and being in a better position with the Duckworth-Lewis if it were to rain.
The decision was made to look awful by a first over from Zaheer Khan that would have put the one he had bowled in the final of the 2003 World Cup to shame.
He started with bowling on to the legs of Jacques Kallis, who flicked it to the fence, before bowling seven wides. The over was rounded up with another couple of boundaries and Kolkata were 19 without loss.
Sreenath was carted for 14 in his first over by Brad Haddin and it was only a two-over spell from Syed Mohammad that pulled things back for the side. He conceded two runs in those 12 balls and picked up the wicket of Haddin.
Kolkata got to their 50 at the end of the sixth over as the pair of Kallis and Gautam Gambhir consolidated through their second-wicket stand.
The pair added 58 for the second wicket that came in 52 deliveries. Kallis was let off once when the wicket-keeper AB de Villiers missed a stumping but was dismissed in the very next over while trying to hit Vettori over extra-cover.
Kolkata were 102 for two in 13.2 overs and the stage was set for Yusuf Pathan to accord the side an acceleration.
After pottering around for a few deliveries to begin with, Pathan opened up with a straight six off Syed Mohammad, followed up with another in the next Vettori over.
Aravind did send back Gambhir (48), but Pathan took the attack to the opposition, slamming a total of three fours and three sixes in his 24-ball 46.
Zaheer conceded 53 off his four overs while the pick of the bowlers was left-arm spinner Syed Mohammad, who gave away only 20 in his four overs.
Gambhir’s knock must deserve a special mention. He has continued to bat at the number three position despite all the talk of the experts wanting him to be pushed up the order and he batted through the innings again. There was hardly a risky stroke played and the boundaries were invariably followed by the rotation of strike.
Kolkata made a couple of changes to their playing eleven. They dropped Brett Lee and got in Jaidev Unadkat while replacing Manvinder Bisla with Haddin. Bangalore also got in two new players. Chris Gayle, who would have only just arrived in India, immediately got the chance to play in place of Mayank Agarwal while Sreenath Aravind got a chance instead of Johan van der Wath.
Brief Scores: KKR 171 for 5 in 20 overs (Yusuf Pathan 48, Gautam Gambhir 46, S Aravind 2 for 37, Syed Mohammad 1 for 20) VS RCB.
(Suneer is a Mumbai-based cricket writer and can be contacted at suneerchowdhary@gmail.com and Tweets here @suneerchowdhary)

Pictures © AFP
