By Suneer Chowdhary
A mesmerised Mumbai Indians side, seemed to have been hit hard by their three successive losses and were pounded for 175 in their 20 overs by the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Published: May 22, 2011, 09:54 PM (IST)
Edited: May 22, 2011, 09:54 PM (IST)
Jacques Kallis plays a shot during his innings of 59 © AFP
By Suneer Chowdhary
Kolkata: May 22, 2011
A mesmerised Mumbai Indians side, seemed to have been hit hard by their three successive losses and were pounded for 175 in their 20 overs by the Kolkata Knight Riders.
This last game of the IPL league stage between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens would have been more important for the home team. This was simply because Chennai’s loss to Bangalore meant that Mumbai needed to get to their target in less than five overs to get to the vital second position while Kolkata needed to only win their game.
Kolkata went in with the same line-up while Mumbai Indians chose to rest Dhawal Kulkarni and Andrew Symonds and got in Abu Nechim and Ray Price, thus attempting to strengthen the bowling.
After a slow start, a misunderstanding between Jacques Kallis and Sreevats Goswami saw both players get to the same end. It culminated in Goswami being run-out.
Gautam Gambhir did not last too long either. He hit a six off Abu Nechim but a change in the angle got the ball to seep through and bowl the captain.
The momentum was provided by the in-form Manoj Tiwary, who opened his account off the very first ball he faced – with a boundary off a flick to mid-wicket. Another boundary in the same over was followed by a four and a six off Price’s first ever over in the IPL and the Knight Riders were 46 for two at the end of the sixth over.
Even after the field restrictions were lifted, the run-rate did not drop thanks to the Tiwary’s aggression. He hit a couple more to the fence but more importantly he kept rotating the strike. Kallis did not have to do anything more extraordinary than to give the strike back to Tiwary. Unfortunately for the Knight Riders, Tiwary became the second player to be run-out, as he failed to regain his crease after taking a couple of steps on cutting the ball to Harbhajan Singh.
The respite, if any, lasted all of three balls. Yusuf Pathan jogged in, blasted a six off the fourth ball he faced. With the batsman away, there were a couple of other boundaries off the next over and at 96 for three in 11 overs, a score of more than 170 looked like a given.
The Mumbai Indians pulled something back through unexpected quarters. James Franklin, who hasn’t had a great IPL thus far, had a three-over spell that cost him only 16 and culminated in the dismissal of Pathan. He made a 27-ball 36.
At this stage, with four overs to go and the Knight Riders at some distance from what would have been a tough cookie to crack, Kallis took over.
First, he swept Harbhajan Singh for a six before spoiling Franklin’s figures with two sixes off successive balls propel the score along. The first of those sixes got him to his half century as well. Franklin ended with conceding 19 off his last over and while he did get Kallis (59) out, Ryan ten Doeshate’s 12-ball 18 took Kolkata along to a convincing 175 for seven in their 20 overs.
Brief Scores: KKR 175 for 7 in 20 overs (Jacques Kallis 59, Yusuf Pathan 36, Manoj Tiwary 35; Abu Nechim 2 for 32, James Franklin 2 for 35) vs MI.
(Suneer is a Mumbai-based cricket writer and can be contacted at suneerchowdhary@gmail.com and Tweets here @suneerchowdhary)
