'Cometh the hour, Cometh the man' applies to Sourav Ganguly perfectly. Ganguly led from the front and snatched the victory from DD and won his second 'Man of the Match' award. Dada won the toss and elected to bat first in a must win encounter for KKR. Gayle and Dada gave dream start to KKR by doing good partnership for first wicket which laid the foundation for good score. Chris Gayle got out on 40 and Dada also got out after scoring brilliant 53 in quick succession put KKR on back-foot and run-out of McCullum just put the breaks on scoring. But Mathews and Manoj Tiwary did fantastic partnership and took the score past 180 which is winning score in this tournament on most occasions. DD started poorly and lost wicket of Warner in first over who was bowled by Ashok Dinda who bowled probably best over of the tournament. DD is a tough team to beat because they have strongest batting line-up in this tournament and this was also visible yesterday when David Warner got out early then also they continued their chase at required rate as Sehwag and Gambhir was firing. It was unforutnate that Gambhir got run-out to the brilliant throw of Sourav Ganguly and things turned little bit in favour of KKR but yet Sehwag was there and he was in mood to destroy the bowling and to an extent he did that but brilliant bowling change from Dada again proved costly for DD as they lost Sehwag who was bowled by Agarkar and the Sourav Ganguly took brilliant catch of Kedar Jadhav which put KKR in driving seat and they won the match. I must say yesterday whatever Sourav Ganguly did was turn-out gold for KKR from team selection to bowling changes to field placings. Yesterday Sourav Ganguly was everywhere in Eden Gardens and really proved why he is a champion. From here on it is important that KKR maintain this momentum and confidence and win their all coming matches then only they will be able to qualify for the semis because points table is still open.
RR kept their winning record intact at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur and won easily against KXIP. Sangakkara won the toss for KXIP and elected to bat and they scroed 86 runs in first 10 overs and looking great to score more than 180 but great bowling change from Shane Warne turned the match completely in favour of RR as Dole picked up Mahela Jayawardene and Yuvraj Singh in one over and put KXIP on back-foot and KXIP never recovered from those shock and ended up with paltry score of 153. To add to the woes of KXIP, RR started brilliantly as Michael Lumb and Naman Ozha took the match away from KXIP with some brilliant stroke-play. Especially Lumb who played brilliant innings and displayed his talent and was responsible for the easy victory of RR. From here on RR are in comfortable position and they will make it to the semis if they win two more matches. For KXIP whatever outside chances had they all vanished with this loss and they themselves have to blame for this debacle as they couldn't carry the momentum which they gained from their last victory over KKR.
Today depleted DC take on RCB and it is must win situation for Gilchrist & Co. On the other hand RCB have to win in-order to go up the table as most of the teams are on same points. I feel Gilchrist have to try Rohit Sharma in opening and Andrew Symonds at No.3. I feel that will give them good chance of putting huge score on the board and Gilchrist himself will not come under pressure to go after the bowling from start which is happening in tournament with DC as they lose Gilchrist early.Bowling is now looking somewhat ok for DC but yet they have to do some improvements in terms of variation. For RCB they now have strongest batting line-up in this tournament alongwith DD and only thing they need is to apply themselves. Anil Kumble is champion and he understands what is required to win the game. RCB is coming into this match after a loss, so they have to play really well as they are considered one of the semi-finalists. To win this game RCB have to be clever in selecting the bowlers.
No comments:
Post a Comment