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.

Shame for the RCB

Well one would have not even in their dreams would have thought that the Royal Challengers Bangalore would lose to the Kolkata Knight Riders and that too mu such a huge margin making it a one sided contest. All these happened despite the presence of Chris Gayle though the entire Royal Challengers Bangalore's innings didn't consist of Gayle's contribution to much extent. The RCB struggled to cross past 150 when they ended at 169 with a last moment effort from Daniel Vettori. But, the Kolkata Knight Riders chased down the target losing just 1 wicket of Brad Haddin not before scoring 42.

In most of the cases, a total of 169 is thought to be a match winning score but not yesterday when that was not even considered to be a score. When a team like Kolkata Knight Riders can chase down the target comfortably, one can just think about the caliber of the score. For the 1^st time may be that some captain has used his brains in choosing the bowlers who would be bowling their spells out. All the bowlers had decent run ups with Shami Ahmed going in for 10 runs. And Gambhir showed his captaincy skills by removing him after that over.

Though Unadkat went for 11.66 runs an over from his three overs, he was able to capture two wickets. That made sense in using his bowlers which much captains doesn't seem to do quite often. There were 7 bowlers who took the ball in their hands. It was nice to see Kallis, who is more of a one day batsman taking the charge of Kolkata's run chase and emerging successful at the same time. Kallis' efforts deserve praise when he assisted Brad Haddin in his big hitting and then did the same when Gambhir entered the crease after Haddin's dismissal.

This would be a tough job to stand and support the other batsman and for this, it was right in judging Kallis as the man of the match. On the other hand, Vettori's efforts as a captain needs some applause when he stepped in and scored a handy 44 when big guns like Gayle failed at the top. But, later on, Vettori tried everything to contain the Kolkata batsmen by bringing in players like Bhatkal and Kohli to bowl when top bowlers like Nannes and Aravind got belted for 13.00 runs an over. Vettori was the most successful bowler as well returning with figures of 4-0-27-1.

South Australia just unpredictable

Last time when South Australia played their match against Warriors, on one hand South Australians were first punched everywhere when by the Warriors' batsmen for 171 and then their batsmen were restricted to just 121. Now, the same South Australian team happened to score a mammoth total of 188 against the Kolkata Knight Riders at Hyderabad yesterday. There can hardly be any question of a team chasing the total and needless to be said, Kolkata lost the match by 19 runs. Well, that was too low a margin to achieve victory. The margin of victory should have been atleast 51 runs like it was the case for Warriors.

Whatever, I am not the person to predict or rather dictate that by how much margin should a team win a match. Coming to the match, it was not a one man show like it was in the match between Warriors and South Australia where all most of the scoring was done by JJ Smuts who scored 88. This time there was contribution from Michael Klinger, Daniel Harris, Callum Ferguson and Daniel Christian with Ferguson's 70 being the highlight to bring the team total to 188. The only batsman who disappointed was Tom Cooper who got out scoring just a single.

As usual, the captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders namely Gautam Gambhir stuck to the age old theory having four of his bowlers bowl their full quota of 4 overs with Laxmipathy Balaji falling one over short. Trying to shift from Balaji who gave away runs at 9.00 runs an over, Gambhir turned to Rajat Bhatia who was even more intelligent and gave away 10.00 runs from his only over. Still, that was better than 10.75 runs an over given by Yousuf Pathan. Adding to the excitement, there was equal contribution from most of the batsmen of Kolkata but none of them were highlights.

The top scorer from Kolkata happened to be Manoj Tiwary who had 40 runs to his credit. In a game of cricket, in addition to team work, there should be regular partnerships and one man should take complete responsibility of his team in order to be victorious. Whatever, Kolkata Knight Riders came close to the target which will stop critics from pointing their fingers towards them. There were back to back wickets for Kolkata which halted their advance in the game when Ryan ten Doeschate and Lee got out in 18.2 and 18.4 over respectively. Or else, Bhatia had a great going with 21 runs at number 10.

Kolkata get what they deserved

Finally as all would have expected, the Kolkata Knight Riders ended their IPL stint yesterday by losing to the Mumbai Indians, which was their last chance to prove a point in the tournament. One has to anyway congratulate the Kolkata Knight Riders for coming this far when their performances in the past three editions of the tournament were haphazard. Despite the presence of big guns like Sourav Ganguly, Ricky Ponting, Brendon McCullum and others, they ended at the bottom of the table in the past three editions of the tournament. This time there were more teams compared to the previous editions.

A loss against one team could be made up in their next game. And, may be that was the reason why the Kolkata made it count unlike last three editions. On the other hand, there was a re-auction of the players which meant another chance for the franchisee to have their bid on a player whom they think is a promising one. This time Kolkata had promising players like Gambhir, Kallis, Yousuf Pathan and Brett Lee to name a few. However, all that could help them was to place them fourth in the points table which was a jump from position No.8 last time.

Scorecard suggests there were the top order of the KKR failed miserably with hardly any contributions from Gambhir, Kallis, Goswami and Tiwary. So was the case regarding Yousuf Pathan and Shakib Al Hasan. It was fascinating to see one player from Holland and the other from Bangladesh having a major share in the Kolkata's batting with Ryan ten Doeschate top scoring with 70 and Shakib Al Hasan scoring 26. The second highest run getter in last year's IPL should learn from the player where cricket has taken a backseat. The aforementioned players didn't disappoint their franchisee who bid a huge sum on them.

Coming to the Mumbai Indians' batting, it was as though Aiden Craig Blizzard was introducing himself when stats shows that he never played international cricket at all and more over neither he could be thought to represent the same in years to come. The opening batsmen top scored with 51 runs off 30 balls at a decent strike rate of 170. One can see the route taken by KKR who went in for 7 of their bowlers to try something to stop the Mumbai Indians from scoring. But, who on earth cares for those when James Franklin was trying to undo the damage which he did with the ball?

Finally a break from action

Well this was a well-deserved break for all players, fans and commentators who would have been in one way or the other associated with the IPL. Now with less than 24 hours left for the first play off between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians, something special would be needed regarding the past performances of all the teams and its players. The reason for the same would be that a blogger can hardly take a break from writing some or the other stuff regarding the tournament which has given lots and lots which makes us run out of pages and time.

One team that would never compromise with its victory or at least the runners-up tag would be the Chennai Superkings who have such match winnings payers like Mike Hussey, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Murali Vijay, Subramanium Badrinath and Suresh Raina who have been match winners in one game or the other. All the aforementioned players have been top class batsmen though they have little bit of problems with their bowling completely dominated by Bollinger and Tim Southee. Otherwise players like Suresh Raina and Badrinath are found taking the ball in their hands.And then, by chance the Kolkata Knight Riders have made it here replacing Delhi Daredevils.

Likewise, the Mumbai Indians on the other hand have a lot of match winning players like Sachin Tendukar (more than anybody else), Kieron Pollard, Rohith Sharma and Symonds to name a few with the bowling department consisting of Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel and Lasith Malinga who have proved to be wonders. There are people like Harbhajan, Pollard and Malinga who can be hard hitting at the bottom of the table. They take the second place after the Chennai Superkings to make this tournament theirs. But, with both RCB and CSK having a better chance, MI stand in the third place.

Much can be thought of regarding the RCB until now which has been totally dominated by Chris Gayle alone. One can look at the matches played by the Royal Challengers prior to the entry of Gayle and matches after Gayle was introduced. Moving still further, one can see the results of the RCB matches when Gayle has failed to dominate. All these would conclude that in case Gayle fails to provide the RCB with any sort of support with the bat then the RCB are bound to pack up their bags and head back home. Top three of these qualify to the Champions League.

Defend 118!

Well the moment a team scores 118, anybody who would have had his bet on that particular team would have to leave the stadium or switch off his television sets. And may be that was what fans of Pune Warriors who would have bet their money on that team been doing yesterday after they crashed to a 7 wicket loss at the hands of the Kolkata Knight Riders. At such a run rate, the Pune Warriors couldn't even manage to win a 50 over match let alone a 20 over one. Very rarely does a team win matches defending 118.

The highest individual score happened to be from the blades of Yuvraj Singh who scored 24 which only he could boast of. One can just consider Yuvraj Singh as a topper among failures. I just cannot understand why Kolkata Knight Riders could not get the Pune Warriors all out. There were three more wickets left in the Pune Warriors' kitty. It is not always that the win or loss that matters but the way a match has been won or lost needless to be said. Pune Warriors were as though they just wanted to convince their fans saying that they were playing for the 1^st time.

Pune Warriors might have been playing for the first time in the IPL but certainly, Yuvraj Singh, Sourav Ganguly, Jesse Ryder etc have featured in all three previous editions of the tournament. This is Sourav Ganguly's third match in the IPL and this has been his second under rated performance after scoring a naught in the game against Deccan Chargers. One has to definitely appreciate the efforts of the Kolkata captain who bought in 8 of his bowlers knowing that the Pune Warriors were at their knees. The entire Pune Warriors' innings consisted of just one six from the blades of Ganguly.

Whatever, Sourav Ganguly would have been a happy man despite the results of the game because, the team which eventually won was Ganguly's home team while had the Pune Warriors won, that would be the team which Ganguly is now representing. The total of 118 hardly requires any team work where finishing the job is more of a formality than any sort of achievement. Still, there was Gautam Gambhir who scored the lone half century of the match aided with an all round performance by Yousuf Pathan who grabbed 2 wickets and then went on to score the winning runs for his team.

Totally illogical

This point has already been thought about by so many experts about the illogical nature of the D-L method for which there was yet another example yesterday in the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders. The match was reduced to 13 overs even before the Kolkata Knight Riders were put into bat by the Royal Challengers owing to bad weather. But, towards the end of the first innings, the Kolkata Knight Riders ended their innings at 89/4 but the target that the Royal Challengers Bangalore were supposed to chase down to record a victory happened to be 102 from 13 overs.

According to not only me but many of them, the target that the RCB were supposed to score should have been 90 and not 102. But it is the magic of the D-L method that makes the target exceed by 12 more runs than expected. Recently, there was a game between Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Superkings where despite batting second the Kolkata Knight Riders won the match by ten runs which is impossible in a regular LOI. Going by the rules of cricket, a team batting second can win a match by so many wickets and by so many runs.

If this happens to be the case after the introduction of the D-L method, what if a 20 over match happens and the team batting second requires more than one run compared to the score put up by the team batting first in order to attain victory? The debate has been going on for decades altogether but a proper permanent solution is awaited and that is in case someone is serious in solving the problem rather than terming the match as a bad luck for the losers. However, a total of 102 never seemed to bother Chris Gayle's team.

This time as well, there was no one stopping Chris Gayle who scored runs at a rate of 316.66 runs for every 100 balls he faced. Had there been no Chris Gayle, the Royal Challengers Bangalore would have been termed as an unlucky team for, despite the presence of Chris Gayle and his timely contribution with the willow, the RCB took 12.3 overs and losing 6 wickets en route to reach their target. So one can imagine RCB without Gayle. Likewise there was a noted bowler in Charles Langeveldt who shone with the ball scalping 2/10 from 3 overs at 3.33 runs an over.

A mis-match at Eden Gardens

Well what can be said about the shortest version of the game being truncated to half of its size and that too when one innings happens to be over? One has to forget the saying that all is well that ends well when the Chennai Superkings who would have lost otherwise as well happened to gain sympathy for ending up on the losing side due to the D-L method. A score of 115 on the board can hardly be defended and has been proved to be chased down on majority of the occasions. And, Kolkata is an upcoming team in this year's IPL.

There was an approach as though it was a one day game if the scorecard of the Chennai Superkings is considered. Neither did they lose wickets at regular intervals nor did they put up a huge score on the board to compensate for their ducking. There was one player in the Chennai side who scored a half century when Subramanium Badrinath scored a 41 ball 54 aided with three hits to the fence and two outside the ground. Had there been losses of wickets, that would have seen Dhoni getting into the rescue act followed by Wriddhiman Saha and Morkel.

Very rarely does a match total happens to be reduced to exactly half both in terms of the runs needed to be chased as well as the number of balls needed to secure a win. Yesterday, at Kolkata, the revised target for the Knight Riders happened to be 52 runs from 10 overs which initially was 115 runs from 20 overs. A funny aspect of the D-L method is that the team batting second wins by so many runs which is not possible in regular games or uninterrupted ones. The result might have been Kolkata won the game by 10 wickets instead of 10 runs.

Iqbal Abdulla was awarded the man of the match for his outstanding efforts of 1/15 from 4 overs by blind people who could not see or realize Brett Lee's efforts of 0/8 off his four overs at just 2 runs an over. Even in that partly total of 114, there was a bowler in Jaidev Unadkat who gave away runs at the rate of 11 runs an over from the only over which he bowled. The Kolkata Knight Riders innings saw no sixes being scored unlike the Chennai innings which saw two of them. Had Badrinath been adjudged the man of the match, that would not have been a bad choice.

Tuskers strong on their day

Well one of the teams upon which all IPL fans can have their bet this time around would be the Kolkata Knight Riders who are found to have regrouped from their previous shattering which was evident in the last three editions especially the second one where Brendon McCullum was made to captain the side instead of Sourav Ganguly. However, yesterday the story was slightly different with the Kolkata Knight Riders having a tough time against Kochi Tuskers Kerala at Kochi (where else). Another delight of the day was that the home team won the match which has been otherwise in the other contests.

Home teams have been seen returning at the losing end with the teams like Delhi and Hyderabad topping the list followed by Mumbai. Coming to the game between Kochi and Kolkata, the match was a favorite one for 'K' fans with both teams having the letter 'K' in them. However, even if one goes by that theory, then the fans would have been delighted for the team with the maximum number of 'Ks' emerging victorious. The Kochi Tuskers kerala have three 'Ks' in them as against only two such 'Ks' by the Kolkata Knight Riders. And for peiople who don't go by that, here it is.

One has to just think why on earth does the batsman from whom a master innings is expected happens to disappoint? Brendon McCullum who has shown to entertain his fans happens to get out early scoring just one run no matter how many balls he has played. Is it because McCullum had last played for Kolkata in the past three editions of the tournament that he has a soft corner for them should be thought about not so seriously. No individual batsmen can be highlighted from the Kocjhi team with contributions pouring in from Parthiv Patel, Michael Klinger, Mahela Jayawardane and Brad Hodge.

The toughest decision to make was as to who should be adjudged the man of the match with Jayawardane being the top scorer of the innings and Morgan doing his stand alone innings of 66 that topped the match overall. However, with the preference going to the individual from the winning team, adjudging Jayawardane as the man of the match would not have been a bad choice. But, considering a quickfire innings, the award points to no one else but Brad Hodge for his 35 from 19 deliveries at a strike rate of 184. Main mistake lied in Kochi giving 4 overs to Lee who went in for 42 runs at 10 runs an over.

A soft target for the KKR

Well with the Kolkata Knight Riders showing their comparatively best performance in this year's Indian Premier League, the opponent which they have been scheduled to play against happened to be another apple pie with the Deccan Chargers crashing once again after failing to get past 169 set by the Kolkata team. Though that was a decent total, that was definitely not a total that could not be chased. With batsmen like Sohal, Sangakkara and Christian in the side the total should have been chased down which as usual didn't happen. However, that is a different issue with ups and downs being prevalent.

It is still a mystery that the home team usually stays at the receiving end of the thrashing that the visiting team gives. This time as well, the situation was hardly different with the home team namely Hyderabad falling short of the target set forward by the visitors namely the Kolkata team. Starting with the Kolkata Knight Riders' innings, the visitors left hardly any stones unturned with all of the six batsmen contributing to the total of 169 which could promise a start or at least save some face for the team. Needless to be said, Yousuf Pathan's 47 was the highlight.

With the results apart, the Kolkata Knight Riders' captain - Gautam Gambhir should reconsider having Jacques Kallis in the playing eleven with his style of play suiting only the South African team and that too only in the longer forms of the game. One can go through the scorecard to see Kallis scoring 30 runs from 31 balls at just run a ball efficiency. This is one of the many times Kallis has been seen dong this. Had there been some blows from the batsmen, the team could have seen Mark Boucher and Yousuf Pathan play a little more than expected.

All fingers point towards Kallis for consuming too many balls en route to his double figure score. So should Eoin Morgon and Manoj Tiwary to a greater extent. Like it has always been happening, the Deccan Chargers' bowlers showed no signs of experimenting with their bowlers with four out of six bowling their full quota of 4 overs and one bowler bowling 3 overs. The bowler with the least economy bowled just one over with Shikar Dhawan being the lucky guy. This doesn'y mean he should have been given another over to spoil his team's chances. But, Amit Mishra could have been given another over.

KKR and Delhi swap places

This was yet another loss for Delhi Daredevils on home turf and one has to go through the entire results page to see where the number stands as far as the Delhi Daredevils' loss at home is considered. The present is that the Kolkata Knight Riders won the match by 17 runs against the Delhi Daredivels. Just few days before, the Chennai Super Kings took all applause for defending a mere total of 142 against the Pune Warriors when the latter were restricted to just 117 at less than run a ball. This time as well, the total of 148 was not a tough task for Delhi to chase.

Looking at the scorecard, despite being on the winning side, the Kolkta Knight Riders' innings was a one man show dominated by just Manoj Tiwary who scored an unbeaten 61 runs from 47 balls. That effort of his was more than enough for because the Kolkata Knight Riders eventually won the game as stated and Manoj Tiwary was awarded the man of the match. There was neither a supporting innings nor any quickfire from any of the batsmen from the Kolkata Knight Riders' side with the second best being 22 from the blades of Shreevats Goswamy in the beginning of the innings.

Looking at the scorecard once again suggests the lack of experimenting from the Delhi Daredevils side to be responsible for their debacle when they could not chase down 149 runs against the Kolkata Knight Riders. The Delhi Daredevils captain-Virender Sehwag bought in just 4 bowlers to bowl the Kolkata Knight Riders. Despite of this, the Delhi Daredevils should be glad that the total didn't shoot past 180. Sehwag could have bought in Yogesh Nagar, Naman Ojha and himself to bowl as a part of experimenting with his bowlers. Notable scores from Kolkata include only Goswami's 22 as mentioned. But, what if that is enough to win the game?

The Kolkata Knight Riders couldn't get the Delhi Batsmen all out with one wicket still left. The approach of the Delhi Daredevils was far from satisfactory with none of the batsmen making it count for the Delhi team. I doubt whether Virender Sehwag's score of 34 which topped the charts should be considered as a captain's innings which not only was the top score of that innings but was also the only score from the Delhi team that went above 30. The Kolkata Knight Riders unlike their opponents bought in 6 bowlers to bowl the Delhi batsmen which worked in restricting them below 148.

Just for a change..

Well with all tongues cursing the Kolkata Knight Riders for their 9 wicket loss to the Royal Challengers Bangalore, one has to go through their performance in the past with them coming too close to winning the opening game against the Chennai Super Kings when eventually they lost by 2 runs. Following that defeat, the Kolkata Knight Riders won games against Rajasthan Royals and Deccan Chargers though they lost against Kochi Tuskers Kerala. Yesterday's loss places them behind with three losses and two victories. But, this was better than what they could do in the last three editions of the IPL.

All would have thought the score of 171 and a target of one run in excess of that would be sufficient to prove the absence of Ganguly as a forgettable one. But, let alone winning the game, even the loss can never be digested by the Kolkata fans whatsoever. I have mentioned many times on the blog that a total less than 180 in a T20 game is just ordinary. But, a little bit of concession can be given to the total of 171 not only for the reason that it is just 9 runs less than the projected total but since that total does not fall behind when it comes to winning matches.

There have been less instances when a team loses piling up a total of 171 and few cases falling otherwise. The batsmen of the Kolkata team never showed any signs of compromise when three out of the top four batsmen scored in excess of 40 runs. However, despite scoring 40 runs, Kallis needs some refinement and someone needs to tell him that he is playing a T20 game and not a one day international. A 40 runs from 42 balls is not acceptable in a T20 game. Pain was evident from the RCB bowlers when 7 of them came in to bowl or rather stop Yousuf Pathan.

But, nothing much could have been done with a batsman of the caliber of Chris Gayle when all the fielders were supposed to do was to collect the ball from the ball boys whenever Gayle hit a boundary and ask the spectators to throw the ball whenever he hit the ball for six. Perhaps! had the audience been payed for doing a ball boy job, they could have gone home with a few pennies in their pocket that could have covered their popcorn costs. As a revenge, even the Kolkata bowlers were made to change the bowler 7 times. Putting it simple, the KKR were Gayled!

Kolkata on the top

Well, for all those people who would have had a lot of hesitation in having their bet on Kolkata Knight Riders, this is the answer for their lack of risk taking abilities. Of course, hardly anyone can risk on a team which has been at the bottom of the points table of the last three editions of the Indian Premier League. If not for their loss to the defending champions in the first game, there has been no stopping for the Kolkata Knight Riders whatsoever. There too the Kolkata Knight Riders lost the plot by just 2 runs which can be forgiven.

This time, rather than a victory for the Kolkata Knight Riders, one thing that definitely needs a pat on the back is that they showed no signs of panic neither this was a close encounter which could have gone anybody's way. The entire team work of the Rajasthan Royals was shattered by Kallis and Gambhir duo. One has to take into account the team work of the Rajasthan Royals with Rahul Dravid and co put together a decent score of 159 on he board which was eventually not enough. If not for their wicket keeper, the rest did well for the Rajasthan Royals.

The Rajasthan innings was not dominated by a single batsman unlike the Royal Challengers' innings the day before with onlt Virat Kohli scoring for the RCBs. I wonder whether anybody will ever forget and forgive the Kolkata Knight Riders' bowlers for bowling 19 extras that included 12 wide deliveries which took the score of the Rajasthan Royals to 159. On the other hand, the Rajasthan Royals bowled just 3 wides but could not avoid defeat. Had the result been known earlier, may be then Gambhir might not have bought in 7 of his team mates to bowl at Jaipur stadium.

Highlight being that Yousuf pathan bowled just 1 over despite grabbing 2 wicket at 4.0 runs an over. His was the most economical over not only in the Kolkata Knight Riders' bowling innings but also in the entire match. But, with Gambhir no giving him another over speaks of his inefficiency.However, had he given few more overs to Yousuf Pathan, may be the man of the match might have been awarded to Yousuf Pathan rather than Gambhir which shows his intelligence as captain. But, with Kolkata Knight Riders cruising to a win without or with little effort, the fans can look out for some juice from the cane.

Kolkata have their day

Well I just cannot recall whether the Kolkata Knight Riders team had a win in their second encounter no matter against which team they played. Oh! Yes, I just recall the way Brendon McCullum thrashed the Royal Challengers Bangalore by scoring an unbeaten 158 in the very first encounter of the maiden venture exactly four years back. But, the end result of the tournament was that the Kolkata Knight Riders didn't even make it to the semi-finals of the tournament. Of course, neither did the Royal Challengers Bangalore. With that being past, yesterday, for a change Kolkata won the match.

The scorecard reveals a complete team work by the Kolkata Knight Riders' batsmen namely Jacques Kallis, Manvinder Bisla, Manoj Tiway and Gautam Gambhir all of whom scored double digit scores. However, the total of 163 was a little bit below the mark when as I have quoted in my earlier posts that a run ate of anything less than 9.0 runs an over is just below average. But, all that mattered was the fact that towards the end of the game, the Kolkata Knight Riders team were victorious by 9 runs which should be a good sign, given their records in the previous three editions.

The players from Kolkata Knight Riders could have played much better cricket with still to come batsmen like Ryan ten Doeschate, Eoin Morgan and Iqbal Abdulla who could have well seen the score past that ideal figure. Instead, the Kolkata Knight Riders stayed with four batsmen which just gave them a whisker and nothing else. One has to highlight the presence of a player from a lesser known cricketing nation with Ryan ten Doeschate hailing from Holland and still attracting a franchisee. There are so many players from decent countries like Australia who have failed to get their names bid.

And, if a player from Holland has been able to do so, that should be rejoiced for a team is coming up in its own terms. Glenn McGrath was forced to opt out from last year's IPL when the player lost hopes in the Delhi team management too see him bowl yorkers and line & length deliveries which forms a different story. In yesterday's match, however it was boring to read a few names which were never heard before like Ishank Jaggi, Barat Chipli, Dwaraka Ravi Teja etc to name a few. Howevrer, Steyn Amit Mishra and Ishant Sharma have been decent bowlers if not a team with decent batsmen.

Kolkata too fast to prove

Well just some 24 hours back I had written about Kolkata Knight Riders' chance in this year's Indian Premier League as they along with the Kings XI Punjab are the only team to make their presence felt in the tournament. But, in the very first encounter with the Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders lost to the defending champions by 2 runs. Well, the match need not be pardoned saying the small margin of victory for the CSKs will not last for long in people's minds. This is neither test nor one day cricket for the margin to be considered to be that small.

The scorecard reveals the team work by the Chennai Super Kings where all batsmen who took to the crease did his little bit to the score eventually ending at 153. This was too less compared to the standards of a T20 game. A total below 180 in a T20 game is as good as some 250 total in a one day game which in today's cricket stands nowhere. A run rate of 9.0 an over seems to be ideal in a T20 game no matter what. The total set up by the Chennai Super Kings against Kolkata Knight Riders stood nowhere for a team with Gambhir to chase.

One has to reason out for Gambhir coming in at number 6 when his usual position being number 1 or 2 in the batting line up. I just went sick seeing Jacques Kallis batting the same way as he plays in test cricket or a one day international. A slow and steady innings in a T20 game is the last thing that would be preferred. No matter that he got to the second half century of the match after some Anirudh scored a match winning 64. Of course, the blame is not completely on Kallis alone but on the entire Kolkata team.

Only 4 batsmen took to the crease from the Chennai Super Kings side with batsmen like Badrinath and Ashwin not making to make it to the crease. And, Morne Morkel and Scott Styris couldn't stay there for long playing just 11 balls in between them. This has been the pity of a T20 game with most of the time taken to concentrate and settle down. This time also, most of the time and overs were taken by Anirudh, Raina and Dhoni making it a perfectly Indian combo. But, Kolkata Knight Riders' efforts needs to be praised for coming so close to the game when otherwise they were way behind.

If Kolkata can do it this time..

One has to just decide whether the all-time underdogs namely the Kolkata Knight Riders can do wonders with the game in this year's Indian Premier League. One thing that is tough for most of you guys to digest would be the fact that Sourav Ganguly will be out of the Kolkata team which he has captained till date. Let alone captaining the Kolkata side, Sourav Ganguly is doubtful to even make it to the side for, rumors have it that Ganguly will be playing for the newly added team-the Pune Warriors in case everything goes as per plan. Or else no.

However, despite his presence in the Kolkata team, his contribution to the side has been much below mark both with the bat as well as with the ball. Of course, Ganguly is not known to do much with the ball but, he has absolutely no ecuses when it comes to the willow in his left hand. But, someone like Rahul Dravid has shown to be a bigger hitter of the ball compared to Ganguly despite the T20 format of the game not belonging to Dravid. This clearly shows that Ganguly will hardly be missed by the players in the Kolkata team.

But, the other side of the coin suggests that the fans of West Bengal and especially Kolkata can never imagine their favorite team without the presence of Ganguly. It wouldn't matter if KKR loses the game or even ends up at the bottom of the points table. But, a win without the presence of Sovrav Ganguly is worse than a crushing defeat for the fans. Though not tough enough with the bat or the ball, as a captain, Sourav Ganguly definitely has his presence felt no matter what. I can recall the 2009 edition when Brendon McCullum was made the captain of the Kolkata side.

Kolkata could not even reach the semi-finals of that tournament. Despite the presence of Ganguly, Kolkata couldn't reach the semis till now, but as a captain, full votes to Sourav Ganguly and absolute zero to Brendon McCullum. However, if there is no Ganguly, there is Gautam Gambhir who was taken for a record price of $9 crore. Now, the contenders who would like to complete the set include Kolkata Knight Riders on the top of the list followed by Kings XI Punjab. The remaining teams viz Bangalore,Hyderabad,Rajasthan,Chennai and Delhi have shown decent performance of not extraordinary ones. Only Chennai and Bangalore have been extraordinary.

The fate of a depleted KKR

Well it has been the trademark of the Kolkata Knight Riders to reserve wickets and go in for a final assault which is yet to become a reality. Even in yesterday's game between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Mumbai Indians, the Kolkata Knight Riders lost just 3 wickets in the 20 overs that they played only to pile up a mere 155 runs on the board and eventually end up on the losing side. If not for his captaincy, Sourav Ganguly should stand nowhere when it comes to rescuing his team which was evident when he scored just 31 runs from 34 deliveries at a strike of less than 100.

This strike can be appreciated had it been in a one day international. But, this is not the time to remind anyone that Ganguly was playing a T20 game where his experience is less than some Piyush Chawla who is at present half his age. But, if common sense speaks, Ganguly should have taken the decision to take charge of his team by going for big shots rather than steadily increasing the pace after ducking in the initial part of his batting. No one would account Ganguly for hitting 5 boundaries but would surely point their fingers for not hitting even a single ball out of the ground.

If the other side of the coin is also given a close look at, it would be quite evident when the KKR team hardly had any hard hitting batsmen with only Chris Gayle and to some extent Ganguly being an exception. Had I been in place of Ganguly, I would have opted to choose Brad Hodge instead of Angelo Mathews and Shukla over Saha or Harpreet Singh. One has to wonder from where did this Harpreet Singh come from when the KKR squad doesn't mention his name. On the other side, even the bowlers from KKR had no momentum in them to trouble the Mumbai Indians' batsmen.

One cannot cite the presence of Sachin Tendulkar to have increased pressure on the KKR side for, Sachin is as good as anybody else as far as T20 cricket is considered though there might be a lot of contradictions to this. Shane Bond and Ishanth Sharma should have shown their caliber for the money what they were paid and the expectations they had drawn from their fans. But, they were the bowlers who ended up with the highest economy rate when both of them returned with a run rate of over 10 runs an over. Shane Bond was not even made to bowl his full quota of 4 overs. The only area where KKR can boast over MI is that they hit 2 sixes compared to only one from the MI side.

Rajasthan Royals win at a neutral venue

Well it was a neutral venue where he Shane Warne led Rajasthan Royals snatched a 34 run victory over the Kolkata Knight Riders. This was the first victory for the Rajasthan Royals while at the same time it was a second loss to the Kolkata Knight Riders. For a change, the match was played on a slow track which is quite rare in T20 cricket and more so when it comes to the IPL matches. Perhaps! It is due to the fact that the match was being played on a neutral venue rather than a home pitch to one of the teams out there.

If not for the opener Michael Lumb, who returned back to the pavilion without scoring, the rest if the batsmen returned with timely contribution with the bat which ensured a decent score on the board. But, if this score was compared to the team totals put up by other teams in earlier games, this total of the Rajasthan Royals stands nowhere but the end result of the match says otherwise. A total of just 168 on the board at a run rate of 8.70 an over is not a tough task atleast as far as the IPL is considered. But, at the end of the day smiles ruled Shane Warne's face.

Yousuf Pathan couldn't do much with the bat that he was expected to. But, when it came to do the same with the ball, Pathan had his full say when he bagged 2 wickets which was more than anybody else in the Rajasthan Royals' side. Luckily, this was the highest any bowler in the match was supposed to take with Ishanth Sharma, Ashok Dinda and Shane Bond joining him. The scorecard suggests a dull performance from the Kolkata Knight Riders' bowlers where the concentration of wickets lies in Shane Bond, Ishanth Sharma and Dinda and with Murali Karthik going waste.

Sourav Ganguly could have had the ball keeping in mind the experience that he has got in international that has made players like Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble star in their respective areas though not being included in the international squad. It was a rather slow approach by the Kolkata Knight Riders' batsmen when they couldn't chase down a modest total despite not losing wickets at regular intervals. This has been the trade,mark of the Kolkata Knight Riders wherein they keep their wickets so that they can go in for a risk at the end only to find kicking themselves at the end of the 20^th over.