Kolkata on a ride

One need not consider the Kolkata Knight Riders to be lucky to have the D-L method being responsible for their win over Warriors last night at Bangalore. Kolkata would have emerged as winners at any cost irrespective of whether there was rain or not. One has to congratulate the Kolkata Knight Riders for coming this far when they were at one stage not even thought to make it to the champions league tournament after being placed fourth in the IPL. Now, the same Kolkata Knight Riders have outraced their competitors namely Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Superkings in the champions league.

A score of 155 put up by the Warriors was far from satisfactory which was easily chasable. In the past in the tournament, the Kolkata Knight Riders have chased down a total of 169 with 9 wickets to spare and few balls left against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Prior to that, they have beaten made 169 against South Australia. Though they lost to South Australia by 19 runs, they managed to go past 150 which was a positive sign. Now, the Warriors had to shed their sweat and blood to reach the total of 155 which was a result of late strikes by Mark Boucher and Colin Ingram.

The Warriors didn't try too many things and settled with a slow ticking of the scorecard. They lost only 4 wickets to do so keeping batsmen like JJ Smuts, Botha and Boje warm the benches. Prior to this match, there was rain which spoiled the previous match between South Australia and Somerset was washed out which gave a hint that the same might happen to the next match as well. Some thinking by the match officials could have made the match a 16 over affair to see both teams complete their innings. There were 29 overs of play meaning, 16 overs per innings was possible with the break reduced appropriately.

Coming to the man of the match debate, it was unfair to give the award to Colin Ingram who scored 61 runs. There is no doubt that his score laid the foundation for Warriors' total but, there were the likes of Kallis and Gambhir whose confidence saw their team total go past the required total by 22 runs. Looking at the way Kallis and Gambhir played, they would have reached the target in just 16 overs with just 72 runs being required off 60 deliveries. The run rate at which the duo were scoring was 8.3 an over and with 9 wickets in hand, the run rate could have only reduced.