Published: Sep 29, 2014, 09:27 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 29, 2014, 10:03 PM (IST)
By R Vishal
Sep 29, 2014
Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey‘s stunning exhibition of brute and finesse in the 18th match of the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) to launch Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to a formidable score of 187 for two. It was Dolphins who took early honours in the game through their pace duo Kyle Abbott and Robbie Frynlick but the bowlers wilted under the spectacular assault from the batting duo which resulted in KKR’s highest ever stand for all wickets. Uthappa and Pandey amassed 153 from just 90 deliveries.
Dolphins set the pace in the match through Kyle Abbott’s excellent first over. There was pace, bounce and carry and the openers were rattled. Gautam Gambhir got a snorter of a delivery, for which he had to take evasive action. Robin Uthappa waited for the bad delivery and it came in the second over. The Indian Premier League (IPL) purple cap holder latched on to it and caressed the ball through extra cover.
After the snorter that he received in the first over, Gambhir got yet another nasty delivery from from the South African international. Luckily for the KKR captain, the ball rolled to the boundary ropes after narrowly beating first slip. The pace and accuracy of Robbie Frylinck was too much for Gambhir and saw his stumps cartwheeling in the fourth over.
Then, Jacques Kallis turned back the clock. A short delivery by Craig Alexander was angled to the South African legend’s nose and in one quick motion, Kallis leaned back and tucked the ball away to the third man boundary for a six. Alexander, however had his revenge and cleaned up Kallis’s stumps soon after. It may well end up being his last dismissal.
Manish Pandey who cut lose against 18-year old medium pacer Andile Phelukwayo and cracked a four and a six to get the scoreboard moving. Uthappa, too cracked a boundary to make it 17 of the eight over.
The Dolphins’ skipper Morne van Wyk turned to spinners to stem the flow of runs but there was no respite for the South African side as Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey were turning on the screws and finding boundaries at will to keep the scoreboard moving. There were some big overs and KKR were on the drivers’ seat.Pandey was looking in imperious touch and KKR reached the 100 mark in only the 13rd over of the match
Uthappa brought up a well crafted fifty. It was not as easy on the eye as the ones he notched up in the IPL, it was a landmark nevertheless. The Karnataka duo kept finding boundaries with needle precision. There was power too. Manish Pandey cracked a monstrous six over the deep mid-wicket fence off Prenelen Subrayan. Uthappa was getting even better at the crease and the scoring rate was well over 10. Pandey soon brought up his fifty and smashed two back-to-back sixes on the leg side as a follow up. The final couple of overs didn’t bring as many runs as KKR would have liked.
Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 187 for 2 in 20 Overs (Robin Uthappa 85*, Manish Pandey 75*; Robbie Frynlick 1 for 39) vs Dolphins
Complete coverage of Champions League T20 (CLT20) 2014 here
R Vishal is a journalist, beach lover, Chelsea FC fan and a wannabe globetrotter. Being a loyal student of the Tariq Iqbal school of cricket stopped him from fulfilling his dream of becoming a cricketer. Now, he just writes and talks about the game; He can be followed on Twitter @vishhell)
