TheSportsCampus

< Prev		Next >

IPL 2008 champions Rajasthan Royals finally posted their first points of the season with a solid 34 run victory over a lackadaisical Kolkata Knight Riders at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad today. The Royals toiled hard to put up a competitive 168 in their 20 overs, thanks largely to a late burst from Australian Adam Voges (37 from 22 balls). Kolkata in response were woeful with the bat, losing just 5 wickets, but struggling to find the boundary as they failed to make use of their lower order strength after quite a perplexing display.

Coming into this game on the back of three straight defeats, the Shane Warne led Rajasthan Royals were desperate for a win and were fortunate to win the toss and make first use of a pitch that got slower as the game progressed. Rajasthan gave an IPL debut to Australian middle order batsman Adam Voges, and also added Faiz Fazal and Shaun Tait to the squad in place of Damien Martyn, Morne Morkel and Sumit Narwal. Kolkata too made some edits to their team dropping Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Rohan Gavaskar, opting for specialist seamer Ashok Dinda and talented middle order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara. There was sadly no season 3 debut for West Indian skipper Chris Gayle, reportedly a little under the weather with the flu.

The Royals got off to the worst possible start losing Michael Lumb leg before to Dinda off the very first ball of the match. Faiz Fazal survived a close early shout from Dinda to score 31 in a 2nd wicket partnership of 42 with Naman Ojha before falling to New Zealand quickie Shane Bond. Ojha took on the responsibility of throwing his bat around next, and added 27 from 18 balls before being run out while attempting to steal a second run to the arm of Angelo Mathews.

Yusuf Pathan contributed a slow 15 from 14 balls and fell on the last ball of the 13th over leaving Rajasthan looking in a spot of bother at 105-4. However, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (45) and Adam Voges (37) played well to take the Rajasthan Royals to a competitive168 for 7. Dinda, Bond and Ishant Sharma chipped in with 2 wickets apiece, while Murali Kartik continued his miserly run, giving away just 25 runs from his 4 overs.

Rajasthan returned to their season 1 tactic of opening the bowling with Yusuf Pathan, and despite the off-spinner going for a couple of boundaries in his first couple of overs, picked up the wicket of Manoj Tiwary for 11 off the last ball of the third over. At the other end Shaun Tait bowled no wides, yet conceded 14 from his opening spell of 2 overs with Pujara helping himself to a couple of boundaries. Pujara found the ropes twice again in the 5th over bowled by Munaf Patel, but Siddharth Trivedi bowled an impeccable final PowerPlay over conceding just 1 run.

The next four overs conceded just 1 boundary as Kolkata slumped to 65 from the first 10 overs, despite losing just the solitary wicket. Pujara fell for 29 (from 25 balls) in the following over inside-edging an attempted chip over fine-leg onto his own stumps, bringing skipper Ganguly to the crease.

With the required run rate climbing close to 11, Kolkata had to go for it, but Hodge and Ganguly struggled to find the ropes, chipping away at the target instead of galloping after it. Hodge finally fell in the 15th over for 36 from 34 balls, way to slow in this format of the game, especially when your partner at the end is struggling too.

The Knight Riders found themselves needing 60 from the last four overs coming out of the strategic time out, and Ganguly batting in his 20s was becoming a bit of a liability. A couple of 6s from Owais Shah didn't really help much as the ask going into the penultimate over was a massive 42 from 12 balls.

Shaun Tait bowled started the 19th over with a wide, rescued by the diving Ojha, easily saving a boundary. However, the Aussie quick finally showed why he is so highly rated conceding just 4 singles off the over, leaving Kolkata 36 to get in the last over to tie the game!

Skipper Sourav Ganguly finally fell for a  29-ball innings of 33 and the big hitting Angelo Mathews departed the next ball, without ever taking striker, run out by direct hit, what a waste! The Kolkata Knight Riders eventually falling a ridiculous 34 runs short.

A crucial win for the Royals, keeping their slim hopes of making the semi-finals alive. The former champions have three days off before heading to Mohali to face fellow strugglers the Kings XI Punjab, and will fancy their chances of getting something from that match. The Knight Riders meanwhile head to Mumbai where they take on Sachin Tendulkar and the Mumbai Indians on Monday. Their lopsided schedules sees Ganguly's side head to Mohali and Delhi before returning home to Eden Gardens on the 1st of April. Kolkata must make something of this long road trip if they are to stay in a hunt for a semi-final spot.

Mini Scorecard:

Rajasthan Royals 168/7 (20/20 ov)
Jhunjhunwala 45 (36)              Dinda 2-28
Voges 37 (22)                          Bond 2-32

Kolkata Knight Riders 134/5 (20.0/20 ov)
Hodge 36 (34)                        Pathan 2-23
Ganguly 33 (29)                     Patel 1-20

Also Read:

Match Preview - Delhi Daredevils  vs. Deccan Chargers

Match Preview - Chennai Super Kings vs. Kings XI Punjab

This article is the exclusive copyright of TheSportsCampus.com and permission to reproduce the same has not been granted.