Underdogs Contiue To Rock

Well if the last and the first edition of the Indian Premier League is taken into consideration, it was the champions Rajasthan Royals who topped the rankings with Chennai Super Kings (runners up), Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab following suite. On the other side we had Deccan Chargers, Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Kolkata Knight Riders topping the chart if the list is turned upside down. However, in the first few days of the second edition of the IPL, it is the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians who have drawn thier first blood by winning matches against Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders respectively.

Coming to the match between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Deccan Chargers, the first blow came when the captain Brendon McCullum went in for a lone spinner in Murali Karthik and on the trot dropping Ajantha Mendis whih proved to be costly, for fellow spinners like Pragyan Ohja was found getting much turn. It was an awesome batting display from Sourav Ganguly who could never connect his bat to the ball and whenever connected, all he could do was to find the fielder. Thank god that KKR never went in for such a captain. Had Ganguly got out a few overs earlier, the fate of KKR could have been re-written. For there were better player who could make use of the balls wasted by Sourav (1 run out of 12 balls).

The fate of the Kolkata Knight Riders was evident when a part time bowler in Scott Styris bowled successfully taking two wickets. I wonder as to what made McCullum go in for Aakash Chopra whom the BCCI thinks twice before selecting him for even test matches. I just cannot recall whaen did Aakash Chopra last play an international game. It was equivalent to the Royal Challengers Bangalore opting for Sunil Joshi in the first edition. Was Fidel Edwards that good that he could concede just 6 runs off his allotted 4 overs? In my case, he should have been adjuged the man of the match.

It was disappointing for me who was ecpecting some delightful shots from Gilchrist and that Adam Gilchrist could not be there for more time. His delight was limited to just 2 hits to the fence. All that the Kolkata Knight Riders could take was the wicket of Adam Gilchrist and nothing else. That was probably the highlight of thematch for the Kolkata Knight Riders. One spectacular delight in the Deccan Chargers' innings was a six from the blades of VVS Laxman. Can you just beleve it! Of course Dravid can do it frequently but for VVS Laxman, it was a miracle I believe. For, his shots were limited to stroke play that can fetch him boundries incase the fielder never has an attempt to stop. Well...I think Laxman could well find himself for the next couple of games in the IPL.