By Suneer Chowdhary
From the moment Gautam Gambhir stepped out to bat in their game against the Rajasthan Royals, the writing looked to be on the wall for them.
Published: Apr 15, 2011, 07:24 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 15, 2011, 07:24 PM (IST)
Jacques Kallis and Gautam Gambhir takes a run during their century partnership.
By Suneer Chowdhary
Jaipur: Apr 15, 2011
From the moment Gautam Gambhir stepped out to bat in their game against the Rajasthan Royals, the writing looked to be on the wall for them. He was aggressive from the word, not allowing the bowlers to settle and on a pitch that one thought would make life difficult for the stroke-players, he clattered an unbeaten 75 to push his side to a second successive win.
Gambhir was also ably assisted by the now holder of the Orange Cap, Jacques Kallis (80), who got to his own half-century and the two were, in turn, involved in the highest-ever second wicket partnership in the history of IPL cricket.
The way that the Rajasthan opening batsmen had gone about their business, the pitch had looked to be a difficult one for those wielding the willow. Gambhir showed them, as it did to those watching the game that there was nothing wrong with the pitch if the intentions were right.
His first scoring-shot was a boundary before he stepped out to Nayan Doshi to deposit him over the long-on fence. The fireworks began in the sixth over though, when the usually dependable Amit Singh was slammed four times into the fence as the Knight Riders sped away to their target; getting 62 off the first six overs.
Warne has been able to pull things back for his side when he has come to bowl after the Powerplay overs have elapsed, but this time he was scored off easily. Each of his first three overs went for a boundary each as Gambhir brought up his half-century off only 28 balls.
It was not as if Kallis was wasting his time at the other end. He did what is best done by him; provide support as solid as a rock and in the process get to a half-century off 46 as the side needed only 42 off the last six overs.
Things could have turned around against the Knight Riders at this stage when a Gambhir-pull off Siddharth Trivedi went straight into the hands of Botha. However, the side had erred in having only three fielders inside the circle. A no-ball was called and to rub salts into the wounds, Botha tried to run Kallis out and the ball went to the boundary for overthrows.
That signalled the beginning of the end for the Royals, as Kallis hit a six off the next over and followed it up with a couple of boundaries off the one after that. The Knight Riders finished the game off with nine balls to spare.
Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders got in Brett Lee and Shakib al Hasan in place of Jaidev Unadkat and Ryan ten Doeschate while Rajasthan Royals had Shane Watson coming in place of Ajinkya Rahane and Nayan Doshi replacing Shaun Tait.
Amit Paunikar and Rahul Dravid continued to open the innings for the side, with Warne pushing back the much-awaited debut of this season for Watson by sending him at four. Dravid was much slower than he was in the previous game, and Paunikar also struggled to time the ball. Shakib took just three balls to get his wicket, his first in IPL cricket.
Dravid scored 35, but used up 34 balls to get there and despite Ashok Menaria’s six and a couple of four at the number three position, the Royals were in mire at 79 for three in 12 overs. Yusuf Pathan had sent both the batsmen back.
The resurrection came off the bats of Watson and Ross Taylor, both of whom shared four sixes and a couple of boundaries and ensured that 57 came off the last five overs of the innings. Watson 22 came off 13 but Taylor remained not-out on 35 off 25. Rajasthan had got to 159 for four, which on a track that seemed to be a bit two-paced, seemed enough.
Brief Scores: RR 159 for 4 in 20 overs (Ross Taylor 35*, Rahul Dravid 35, Ashok Menaria 27, Shane Watson 22; Yusuf Pathan 2 for 4, Shakib Al Hasan 2 for 31) lost to KKR 160 for 1 in 18.3 overs (Gautam Gambhir 80*, Jacques Kallis 53*) by 9 wickets.
Man of the Match: Gautam Gambhir
(Suneer is a Mumbai-based cricket writer and can be contacted at suneerchowdhary@gmail.com and Tweets here @suneerchowdhary)
Pictures © AFP
