Abu Dhabi, Apr 27: Two days ago, Virat Kohli conceded Royal Challengers Bangalore blew a winning position against Kolkata Knight Riders. His side were forced into an encore of that performance by Rajasthan Royals this afternoon, minus the winning-position part. Within the first 14 deliveries of the match, they lost four wickets, including those of AB de Villiers and Yuvraj Singh. Just past the halfway stage of their innings, they lost their last realistic hope - Kohli. From 46 for 7, it was somewhat of an achievement to move past the lowest IPL total of 58, but there was no getting back in the game. Royal Challengers posted 70, the third-worst score in the IPL, and Royals completed the formalities for the loss of four wickets.
After Kohli was asked to bat, he said he would have done that anyway had he won the toss. What was to follow, however, wouldn't have figured even in his worst nightmare. This was a pitch with something for the bowlers. There was some seam and bounce, and also a bit of swing. But considering the kind of shots Royal Challengers played, they would have been in trouble on almost any surface.
A couple of dots in the opening over were enough for Yogesh Takawale to charge out and heave at Stuart Binny, only to edge a gentle outswinger to the keeper. Kohli walked in and took a wicket off his first ball. His call for a single following a push to off was so late Parthiv Patel, not the best of runners, had little chance of making it across.
Yuvraj Singh had a nervy seven-ball stay. He was beaten a couple of times by Tim Southee, and almost yorked himself. Then Kane Richardson trotted in and sent down a 129.6 kph outswinger. And Yuvraj promptly followed it and tickled it to second slip.
At 5 for 3, Royal Challengers had their best pair in the middle to combat the crisis. Instead, AB de Villiers played on first ball, attempting a half-hearted back-foot punch without having the width. Kohli needed someone to just last for a few overs. But that was asking for too much.
Three quiet overs later, Sachin Rana played on to Shane Watson in the same manner as de Villiers. Albie Morkel is used to coming in at the death to try and hit his big sixes, but even the Powerplay was not over yet this time. His second ball against spin, Morkel went for a big six, and holed out off a googly from Pravin Tambe.
Kohli must have surely been fuming inside, but the very next ball, he calmly swatted Tambe for four through extra cover. First ball of the next over, he stepped out and lifted Southee over mid-on. That was about as close as Royal Challengers were coming to a fightback. In Tambe's next over, Kohli received a half-tracker and pulled it straight to midwicket.
Mitchell Starc and Ravi Rampaul helped their side move past 58, before Tambe wrapped up the innings to end with 4 for 20, his best IPL figures. The RCB pair bowled their hearts out, but by the time Starc reduced Royals to 36 for 3, they were already more than half way to their target.
Scoreboard
BANGALORE:
P Patel run out 1
Y Takawale c Samson b Binny 0
V Kohli c Southee b Tambe 21
Yuvraj Singh c Smith b Richardson 3
AB de Villiers b Richardson 0
S Rana b Watson 3
J Morkel c Smith b Tambe 7
M Starc c Binny b Bhatia 18
R Rampaul c Southee b Tambe 13
A Dinda lbw b Tambe 0
Y Chahal not out 0
EXTRAS: (b1, lb2, w1) 4
TOTAL: (all out; 15 overs) 70
FOW: 1-1, 2-1, 3-5, 4-5, 5-17, 6-28, 7-46, 8-62, 9-70, 10-70
BOWLING: S Binny 1-0-1-1, T Southee 3-0-16-0, K Richardson 4-0-18-2, S Watson 2-1-5-1, P Tambe 4-0-20-4, R Bhatia 1-0-7-1
RAJASTHAN:
A Rahane c Patel b Starc 23
K Nair c Patel b Starc 8
S Samson run out 2
A Nayar not out 11
S Watson c de Villiers b Chahal 24
S Binny not out 0
EXTRAS: (lb1, w2) 3
TOTAL: (4 wkts; 13 overs) 71
FOW: 1-31, 2-35, 3-36, 4-68
BOWLING: M Starc 4-0-29-2, R Rampaul 4-0-16-0, Y Chahal 3-1-17-1, A Dinda 2-0-8-0
TOSS: Rajasthan
MAN OF MATCH: P Tambe
UMPIRES: HDharmasena (SL), C Shamshuddin (Ind)
TV UMPIRE: R Illingworth (Eng)
MATCH REFEREE: A Pycroft (Zim)
MATCH REFEREE: GF Labrooy (SL)
Kings XI Punjab keep winning
Abu Dhabi, Apr 27: Glenn Maxwell and David Miller failed for the first time this season, but that didn't prevent Kings XI Punjab from extending their winning streak to four this year, and seven overall. Sandeep Sharma had the new ball curling around, Akshar Patel showed why he is the most economical left-arm spinner in the tournament, Rishi Dhawan also kept it tight before the spearhead Mitchell Johnson finished off the job.
It wasn't a vintage game of Twenty20 cricket, as none of the batsmen could time the ball on a surface on which the heavyweight batting line-up of Royal Challengers Bangalore had been shot out for 70 in the afternoon.
On a green track with plenty of cracks in it, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir had hoped it would be easier to bat under lights, but his decision to bowl first backfired as the ball jagged around after sunset. Set a seemingly straightforward target of 133, Knight Riders lost wickets regularly and, though Suryakumar Yadav briefly threatened to take the game close, wound up well short.
The pillars of the Knight Riders squad when the teams were revamped in 2011, Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan, continued to have miserable seasons. Gambhir pushed himself down to No. 3 after three zeroes in a row, but nearly had a golden duck again, only for Sandeep to put down a difficult, diving return catch. There was further relief for Gambhir as he got a single to fine leg to score his first run of the tournament, but minutes later he handed a catch to short extra cover.
If Gambhir's IPL troubles have been confined to this season, Yusuf has struggled to recapture the heights of the first cycle of the tournament. Once again he looked woefully out of touch, lbw for 3 after being bringing his bat down late on a Rishi Dhawan delivery. He rarely bowls these days, and isn't the quickest in the field either, all of which combine to put his place under serious scrutiny.
Knight Riders openers couldn't get any momentum against Sandeep and Johnson, with both dismissed for single-digit scores. Chris Lynn couldn't recreate the form that yielded a quickfire 45 in his first game of the season earlier this week, and Knight Riders' chances were nearly extinguished once Robin Uthappa was run-out by a precise throw from George Bailey at cover in the 13th over. Knight Riders were 62 for 6, looking for a miracle. It didn't arrive.
They wouldn't have expected to be in that position after the performance of their bowlers. Knight Riders' decision to bring in Piyush Chawla for Vinay Kumar, who bowled them to a last-over win two days ago, paid off as Chawla bamboozled Virender Sehwag with a googly, and benefited from the long boundaries in Abu Dhabi by getting big guns Miller and Bailey caught in the deep.
Chawla's intervention came after some hostile new-ball bowling from Morne Morkel, who tormented the Indians in the top order with his 90-plus mph deliveries, and got the prized scalp of Maxwell with a legstump yorker. Kings XI collapsed from 101 for 4 to 126 all out against the wiles of Chawla and Sunil Narine, who took three in an over. It didn't matter, though, as Knight Riders' batting woes continued.
Scoreboard
PUNJAB:
CA Pujara run out 8
V Sehwag b Chawla 37
WP Saha lbw b Kallis 14
GJ Maxwell b Morkel 15
DA Miller c Morkel b Chawla 14
GJ Bailey c Morkel b Chawla 11
R Dhawan not out 19
AR Patel st Uthappa b Narine 7
MG Johnson b Narine 0
L Balaji lbw b Narine 0
Sandeep Sharma (1) not out 2
EXTRAS: (b 1, lb 2, w 1, nb 1) 5
TOTAL: (9 wickets; 20 overs) 132
FOW: 1-9, 2-28, 3-58, 4-74, 5-101, 6-103, 7-126, 8-126, 9-126
BOWLING: UT Yadav 4-0-28-0, M Morkel 4-0-26-1, JH Kallis 4-0-32-1, SP Narine 4-0-24-3, PP Chawla 4-0-19-3
KOLKATA:
MK Pandey lbw b Sandeep 8
JH Kallis c Maxwell b Balaji 9
G Gambhir c Patel b Sandeep 1
CA Lynn b Patel 13
RV Uthappa run out 19
YK Pathan lbw b Dhawan 3
SA Yadav c Johnson b Sandeep 34
PP Chawla st Saha b Patel 0
SP Narine b Johnson 6
UT Yadav b Johnson 2
M Morkel not out 4
EXTRAS: (lb 5, w 5) 10
TOTAL: (all out; 18.2 overs) 109
FOW: 1-13, 2-19, 3-19, 4-50, 5-59, 6-62, 7-65, 8-85, 9-103, 10-109
BOWLING: Sandeep Sharma (1) 4-1-21-3, MG Johnson 3.2-0-22-2, L Balaji 3-0-21-1, R Dhawan 4-0-24-1, AR Patel 4-0-16-2.
TOSS: Kolkata
UMPIRES: HDPK Dharmasena (Sl), RK Illingworth (Eng)
TV UMPIRE: C Shamshuddin (Ind)
MATCH REFEREE: AJ Pycroft (Zim)
Comments
Add new comment