All Is Black For The Kolkata Knight Riders

Despite failing to make it to the top four of the second edition o the Indian Premier League, the Kolkata Knight Riders had every reason to win the remaining matches to prove their franchisee that even they are a part of this show and also to their fans that the killer instinct is still alive in them and can entertain their fans by winning the remaining matches rather than going completely dejected at the end of the first round. Until now, the color of the Kolkata Knight Riders' T-Shirt was black. But, after their performance in both the editions of the IPL and this one in particular, it looks like everything is black for them.

Some consolation regarding the Kolkata Knight Riders was that they could make use of their batsmen well by posting a decent total of 173 on the board. Even this time the Kolkata Knight Riders side lost just 4 wickets before winding up their innings. But, for a change this time the batsmen who preserved their wickets didn't fail to deliver. The captain Brendon McCullum as all of us are aware of, scored an unbeaten 84 runs off 64 balls which was thought to be a defendable one. But, that was just their illusion. Kolkata Knight Riders' bowlers never seemed to compromise with losing.

Probably, I guess this is the highest run chase in the current edition of the Indian Premier League. Until now, the Kolkata Knight Riders used to lose either by putting on a modest total on the board that the opposition never had any trouble chasing the same or by giving away too many runs that the opposition had no problems defending. But, this time the Kolkata Knight Riders went a step further and put on a mammoth score of 173 that was chased down effortlessly by the Royal Challengers Bangalore. The fans of the Kolkata Knight Riders might have felt comfortable to watch the Kolkata Knight Riders blasting the bowlers.

But, one to be mentioned is that by losing matches against teams like the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Mumbai Indians, they are making way for those teams to make it to the next round for either a loss or a win would make no difference to the Kolkata Knight Riders. But, a loss or a win would be the difference between getting eliminated and passing themselves to the next round for three teams viz the RCB, MI and KXIP. The situation now gives us a hint that even the Mumbai Indians are following the footsteps of the Kolkata Knight Riders to get eliminated from the tournament. But, the difference being that the Mumbai Indians have fought it well by beating some teams atleast. After all, only 4 teams can land in the semis.

A Wise Thinking From Brendon McCullum

The Kolkata Knight Riders have to consider themselves very lucky for not having to care about their future in the tournament anymore. I congratulate them on being the first team to be knocked out of the tournament. It is not clear as to which team will make it to the semi finals but, it is now confirmed that the Kolkata Knight Riders will never make it there. When they have lost the chance of making it to the semis a couple of matches back, why the hell should the KKR captain ever think of winning its further games? This is mateur thinking.

But, this move would not be welcomed by either the Royal Challengers or the Mumbai Indians, for they would have been interested in the Delhi Daredevils' loss rather then a Kolkata Knight Riders' win. A loss to the Delhi team would have made them come down in the latest rankings following which the Mumbai Indians and the Royal Challengers would have an easier task in front of them. But, however, that was not to be at Johannesburg whatsoever. The Kolkata Knight Riders lost this match as well in the same spirit as they lost their earlier ones. This perhaps by a better margin compared to their earlier loss to the same team.

The Kolkata Knight Riders did not lose all the ten wickets and played the allotted 20 overs despite at one stage being at 88/7 at the end of the 11^th over. This is one thing that the Kolkata Knight Riders can feel happy about. I think that all is not lost for the Kolkata Knight Riders as well despite they not being able to make it to the semis anymore this season. For, this is not the end of the world. They can start practicing for the next edition the the Indian Premier LEague which would probably be held in India in 2010.

Like, the Indian team had thought to have started its plans for the 2011 world cup after they lost to Bangladesh in the first round of the tournament itself, which ended their world cup dreams for 2007. IN the particular match against the Delhi Daredevils, the Kolkata Knight Riders fell into the fourth and the last category by neither baing able to post a big total and on the otherhand even losing wickets at regular intervals. For the Kolkata Knight Riders, Sourav Ganguly has done a fair job compared to other team mates and has all reasons to regain the lost captaincy in the next edition. And if Ganguly is not made to lead the KKR team next time, I wish one is aware of the consequences. Ha ha ha...

KKR Just Not Willing To Learn To Learn From Their Mistakes

I have cited this point a number of times in more or less every post that I write on this blog regarding the batsmen willing to take risks and in the process either throw his wicket away like Shahid Afridi usually does or else if luck is in favor put some extra runs on board that could be the difference between a win and a defeat. This could also be the difference between getting qualified to the next round and getting eliminated fro the tournament once for all and thus playing the remaining matches just for the sake of it. But, I wounder whether there is anyone out there to tell the Kolkata Knight Riders' players.

Atleast, the Kolkata Knight Riders' coach John Buchanan should have realized this point if not anybody else. In the eitire quota of their 20 overs, the Kolkata Knight Riders lost just three wickets, with the scoreboard reading 58/1 from the first 6 overs at more than 9.0 an over, and then 98/2 in the 14th over at just over 7.0 an over. The third wicket fell just 4 balls prior to winding up the Kolkata Knight Riders' innings which finished at 154. The third wicket fell when the score was 147. Due to this, the KKR could not utilize the precense of Sourav Ganguly and Ajith Agarkar-two decent hitters of the ball.

I wonder as to what made the team owner go in for Brendon McCullum as a skipper, when McCullum has hardly captained his national side? On the other hand, Sourav Ganguly had done a fabulous job as a captain for team India only to be sacked as a skipper by the KKR team owner. So far, the Kolkata Knight Riders could win just one game and that was against the Kings XI Punjab which was intervened by Duckworth Lewis and the Kolkata Knight Riders' innings lasting just 8 overs. Despite repeated failures by the Kolkata team, it is a surprise that both the team owner as well as the coach have maintained silence over the same.

This is found happening only with the Kolkata Knight Riders and no other team. And another important fact regarding the Kolkata Knight Riders when it comes to their bowling is that their main strike bowlers viz Ishanth Sharma, Murali Karthik and Henriques who bowled their full quota of 4 overs were the maximum run donors returning with bowling figures of 10.75, 4.50 and 9.0 respectively. The other bowlers might not have done a fab job but, a thorough check is needed by the team manager and coach for repeated failures whatsoever. After this match between the Delhi Daredevils and the Knight Riders, the former team has popped to the top most position and the latter has dropped to the bottom most one. What a gesture!!!!

A Successful Captain Replaced By A Non Aggresive One!!!

Well the second edition of the Indian Premier League has witnessed a lot of twists and turns not only on the field but also off the field as well. For, most of the teams that ended at the bottom of the points table in the first edition in 2008 went in for a change in captain. The list includes the Royal Challengers Bangalore-who changed their captain from Rahul Dravid to Kevin Pietersen and now the inevitable choice being Anil Kumble. Then comes the Kolkata Knight Riders whose captaincy was handed over to New Zealand's Brendon McCullum. Of course, there is nothing wrong with the Deccan Chargers having Gilchrist as captain instead of VVS Laxman.

For that matter, even Sachin Tendulkar is not found doing a good job for his team as a captain despite some decent wins this season. It looked as though Brendon McCullum was still in his player mood and not in the captaincy one as it was witnessed in the match against the Kings XI Punjab. Four drop catches at a crucial stage in that match never moved the KKR captain whatsoever. This just showed that the degree of aggressiveness of McCullum was nothing greater zero. The Kolkata Knight Riders once again showed as to why they deserve to be at the bottom of the points table.

If not for the last over that fetched 22 runs for the KKR, none of the other bats if not for Brad Hodge really showed some momentum. I wonder as to whether it was really McCullum who scored the highest individual score of the tournament in the firt edition where he scored an unbeaten 158 off 73 balls which stands unbroken even today? As I always keep on mentioning, the batsmen have to go in for some risky shots when the situation demands. There was no point in preserving wickets when the game hardly lasts 20 overs. The Kolkata Knight Riders lost just three wickets if one goes by the scoreboard.

A big hitter like McCullum to have consumed 31 precious deliveries to score 19 runs showed the lack of motivation by the skipper himself. Keeping this fact in mind, one can draw a conclusion regarding the motivation that the remaining players can bring in. Big hitters like Ajith Agarkar, Laxmi Ratan Sukla and Saha never got a chance to get into the crease owing to the spoilsport played by the rest. I wonder as to what made the KKR to have 7 wickets in hand when 20 overs were fast approaching?the KKR innings saw just three sixes. Anyway, it is not the number of sixes that is the difference between a win and a loss.

But, a sense of selfishness can be found in the Kolkata Knight Riders who never want to take a risk that could add a lot more to the total. The KKR batsmen just wanted to maintain their individual average by staying in the crease. For that matter, the bowlers did a fair job by bringing the Kings XI Punjab innings until the last ball. However, fielding department is once again to be blamed for this mishap. Better luck in the next tournament KKR.

KKR Never Turned Out To Be Another KIXI

If all of us are aware of, the match between the Mumbai Indians and the Kings XI Punjab, the Mumbai Indians came close to winning the match, first by bowling out the Kings XI Punjab for a low score of 119 and then lost out in close contest by losing all their ten wickets for a score that was four less than the actual target. I guess that this was the most disappointing of all matches in the IPL for such hard work never goes unpaid. That match showed the degree of bad luck the Mumbai Indians had on that particular day. However, this was not the case in their encounter against the Kolkata Knight Riders.

This was the second encounter of the Mumbai Indians with the Kolkata Knight Riders in this series, and much to their excitement, the Mumbai Indians have won both the matches, the first one by thrashing them and the second time in a close encounter by 9 runs. One can observe the bad timing of the schedule which saw the Mumbai Indians and the Kolkata Knight Riders face each other twice in a span of a week. When most other teams had not even completed their first round of games, these two teams out there were ready playing their second round.

Over to the match, it was the Kolkata Knight Riders who were more responsible for the loss rather than the Mumbai Indians who were rejoicing their win. For, the Kolkata Knight Riders were well within the limit by bowling 17 tight overs and the last three overs went out of control, which fetched the Kolkata Knight Riders 42 valuable runs and the KKR 42 steps to cover for a victory. Likewise, the batsmen of the Kolkata Knight Riders never took any sorts of risks, which could be well judged from the fact that they neither lost wickets nor did their batsmen go in for runs which is a bad sign. I wonder as to what is the use of such batsmen who never want to slog the bat despite the situation demanding it?

This has been observed many a times in this tournament. It looks like most of the batsmen out there were in the 50-50 mood. The Kolkata Knight Riders lost just 6 wickets with a score of 138. When the strike in a T20 game demands not less than 133 i.e 7 runs for every 6 balls faced, one can observe that most of the KKR batsmen had their strike rates less than hundred and despite that they scored single digit scores. A littkle bit of T20 thinking from the batsmen meaning a few lofts would have seen the Brad Hodge's effort yield his team some results for the KKRs. This is somewhat selfish I believe.

Kevin Pietersen Has The Last Laugh

As it has always been the trademark of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, a loss of their first wicket without opening their account still continues to haunt the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the match was no different in the encounter against the Kolkata Knight Riders either. But, for this time, it was not the Royal Challengers Bangalore who were at the receiving end when it came to a 0 run wicket. On the other hand, the Royal Challengers Bangalore were at the delivering end. Meaning this time, it was the Kolkata Knight Riders who were found losing their first wicket when the scoreboard never found ticking even for the first time.

It was unsual gesture in any format of the game for a spinner and that who does it part time to have the ball and bowl the first over. But, this was the approach of the Royal Challengers Bangalore captain-Kevin Pietersen who was not only found bowling the very first over but also found taking the wicket of the Kolkata Knight Riders' skipper Brendon McCullum and that too in his first ball. Anyway, no cheers for Kevin Pietersen for this, because it was good fortune that made Kevin Pietersen have his man and was neither his intelligence nor his timely anticipation.

Even Pietersen wouldn't have thought to have got his man prior to the match. And a new ball that can hardly offer any grip to a spinner is never a spinners' cup of tea whatsoever. And no mateured captain would ever hand the new ball to a spinner whatever the need of the hour may be. I still remember the then Indian captain Rahul Dravid handing the ball to Virender Sehwag in the second over in a particular match against Australia owing to the reason that Australian batsmen are poor players of spin bowling and as a result, Virender Sehwag was belted for 14 runs off that over. And if Pietersen has found some success doing that, it can be corelated to his fortune and nothing else.

Kevin Pietersen can never be an inspiration for any captain to hand over the new ball to a spinner. But, one positive move from Pietersen was that he dropped Robin Uttappa who had a series of unsuccessful knocks both behind the stumps and in front of it as well. The introduction of Goswami should have been done much before. If the thinking that Pietersen had prior to the one against the KKR, they would have beaten teams like Kings XI Punjab, where Robin Uttappa gave away 5 runs as byes and the Kings XI Punjab sneaked for victory despite needing 60 runs off the last five overs.

A total of 139 was not that challenging defending the total was truely challenging and KUDOS to Pietersen for that. And not to mention the timely contribution from Anil Kumble, Mark Boucher and Shreevats Goswami. All these aforementioned players gave Kevin Pietersen (who would be playing the last match of this IPL before leaving to play against the West Indies) his last laugh. This victory for the Royal Challengers Bangalore ensured that they would not make it to ht elast position in the IPL points table for the time being. The spot is now being owned by the Kolkata Knight Riders. Now, with Pietersen to go back for his national duty and Rahul Dravid to be back in Bangalore, it would be a watchout for Anil Kumble who would be captaining his side for the remainder of the series.

Sachin Tendulkar's On Field Influence

In the IPL match between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Mumbai Indians, it was the Ganguly show all the way, for he was the highest run getter in the Kolkata Knight Riders' innings for his score of 34 which was followed by Brad Hodge (24) and Chris Gayle (12)-the only other two batsmen who posted scores above 10. So, there is not much for the Kolkata Knight Riders' fans to regret about for, their beloved DADA- Sourav Ganguly would no doubt make it until the ultimate game the Kolkata Knight Riders play in South Africa. Not only did Sourav become the top run getter in the match but also he was one of the two batsmen the KKR saw in that match to have cleared the ropes.

If one can manage to go all the way to the first game of the first edition of the Indian Premier League, it was the Kolkata Knight Riders at the delivering end in the match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, after riding high on Brendon McCullum's 73 ball unbeaten 158. And this time it was the very same Kolkata Knight Riders who were at the receiving end. And Brendon McCullum's score this time was 1 run out of the 16 balls he faced at a strike rate of 16.66. Probably it was the captaincy burden that McCullum was supposed to bear this time around that his performance with the bat and behind the stumps failed so badly!!!

Frontline bowlers like Harbhajan Singh go wicketless and a part time bowler in Abhishek Nayar bags two wickets. None of the Mumbai Indians' bowlers bowled their entire quota of 4 overs. I wish Sanath Jayasuriya had been given the ball which would have made him display his all round skills. Instead Sachin Tendulkar was found displaying his off spin there. Oh! yes, Sachin Tendulkar was the front runner when in came to receiving the man of the match award after he had scored a blistering 45 ball 68 (6x4;4x6). And as a captain why would he ever want to transfer it to Sanath Jayasuriya who is even more deadly than Sachin when it comes to bowling?

Sanath Jayasuriya has a lot of T20 games under him when he would be found playing for Sri Lanka and on the other side, the BCCI have left out Sachin for the T20 matches by giving the youngsters a chance. So, it was a rather intelligent move by Sachin not to have given the ball to Jayasuriya, for transferring the ball to the hands of Sanath would also mean transferring the man of the match. However, my man of the match would be Lasith Malinga who broke the stumps on two occassions during his three wicket haul and that too bowling just 2.2 overs. But, Lasith Malinga is yet to make his name into the history books like Sachin has done. Until then, the preference obviously goes to Sachin.Ha ha ha.....

Rajasthan Royals Are Real Genius

This was one such match that kept the followers of the game guessing each and every moment since the first ball of the match was bowled. For, the match which the Rajasthan Royals was thought to be lost was finally tied and the Royals emerged as winners for other reasons. Almost all of the bowlers of the Kolkata Knight Riders had success with the ball throughout the Rajasthan Royals' innings. But, at the end of the day, the match result was something different. A score of just 150 was never a challenging target form anybody let alone Kolkata Knight Riders. Well, the Royal Challengers Bangalore may be exempted from the list.

Knight Riders was not able to get them the match. That is Three bowlers namely Ishanth Sharma, Ajantha Mendis and Anureeth Singh could claim 2 wickets each and a part time bowler in Chris Gayle bowled the most economical over giving away just 20 runs from his allotted 4 overs. Even Sourav Ganguly was not that bad either with the ball. Even the Kolkata Knight Riders were not that bad when it came to their batting, with Ganguly scoring with 46 and Gayle 41. But, all these good work with the ball for the KolkataRajasthan Royals for you buddy.

not going for experimenting by including This is the Rajasthan Royals' team without the likes of Swapnil Asnodkar, Shane Watson and Shaun Tait. But, the presence of someone like Yousuf Pathan can make much or all the difference for the Rajasthan Royals. It is good to see the Rajasthan Royals captain-Shane WarneMohd Kaif and Justin Langer to see how things would then work out. I wonder as to where is Swapnil Asnodkar who was one of the prime architect in the Rajasthan Royals' victory in the last and the first edition of the IPL? And also Morkel in place of Quiney would have made justice.

With so many players missing out in the squad of the Rajasthan Royals and still being able to win matches consistently shows the bench strength of the Rajasthan Royals. All credit to the owners of the team for bidding money on such a formidable team. The best of the bargains of them all being Yousuf Pathan and Swapnil Asnodkar and the worst being may be Mohd Kaif who is confident of not making it to the playing XI under any circumstance. Hardly any of the players in the Rajasthan Royals team is bound to miss the IPL if not for Shane Watson. For the Kolkata Knight Riders, the presence of Sanjay Bangar was just a spoilsport I can say.

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.