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Mar 15
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It wasn’t as resounding a thrashing as that delivered by Brendon McCullum’s ruthless innings against the same opponents in the tournament opener two years ago but it was still a massive win for Kolkata Knight Riders in front of a heaving Eden Gardens crowd. Angelo Mathews followed up his fire-fighting with the bat on Friday by starring with the ball to pin down Royal Challengers Bangalore, before fireworks from Kolkata’s openers ensured their team began their campaign with victories over both of last year’s finalists.
Kolkata were in control right from the start when Bangalore’s young batting talent failed, and the visitors were left to thank the experienced Jacques Kallis, who made a mad dash from South Africa after playing the Pro20 final on Friday evening, for holding the innings together. However, even his battling, an unbeaten 65 on a slowish track, couldn’t spare Bangalore the eventual hammering.
Their troubles began when the surprise move to open with Sreevats Goswami didn’t work out. The pint-sized Goswami was hemmed in by a series of Charl Langeveldt bouncers, and his ploy of backing away to heave the ball to the leg side didn’t come off. Nor could Manish Pandey replicate the wonderful form of his domestic season, looking tentative in his short stay before his attempt to flat-bat Mathews down the ground ended in a bottom-edge on to the stumps.
Next in Bangalore’s youth brigade was Virat Kolhi, talked up by coach Ray Jennings as a future Indian captain, who lasted four deliveries before striking a dipping delivery from Murali Kartik to deep midwicket. With two deliveries left in the Powerplay, Bangalore were down to 20 for 3.
Kolkata’s new-ball bowlers had done their job, and they were backed up by some intelligent bowling from Mathews and Kartik to put Bangalore on the mat. Mathews sent down several slower bouncers which the batsmen struggled to pick, and Kartik varied his pace and effectively used the assistance provided by the track.
It was Kartik who provided the fervent crowd their next chance to scream. Bangalore’s new signing, Eoin Morgan, had started his IPL career confidently with a sensationally-timed off-drive for six off the second delivery he faced, but he was bowled by a short, slow ball, through with his reverse-sweep before the ball arrived.
Match Meter
 Advantage  Honours even |
All the while Kallis was starved of the strike, though he had shown glimpses of form, including a ferocious lofted cover drive. He set about rebuilding with the help of another veteran, Rahul Dravid, putting on 38 with some old-school textbook batting. Dravid was looking in fine touch before he contrived to drag a full, wide ball from Mathews on to the stumps.
There was more sedate run-gathering with Robin Uthappa after that, and it wasn’t until the 15th over that Kallis opened up, clouting Rohan Gavaskar to the extra-cover boundary. Uthappa got his first boundary in the same region, before Mathews struck twice in four balls. Kallis then started to get innovative, walking across the stumps to paddle-sweep a ball for four to bring up his fifty, and repeating the stroke in the final over. There was a sweet, straight hit for six as well, and the 14 runs in the 20th over lifted Bangalore to 135.
It was an underwhelming total on a benign track, but not as tiny a target as the Kolkata batsmen made it seem. Manoj Tiwary may not have much of a reputation as a Twenty20 player, but it was his early onslaught that made the match such a one-sided encounter.
After three steady overs, Tiwary blasted Kallis for 14 in the space of four balls in the fourth, including a powerful swipe over midwicket for six. Much of Bangalore’s chances now depended on how effective their spearhead Dale Steyn was, but Tiwary crashed his second delivery over long-off for six more, before a couple of driven boundaries from Brad Hodge made it 17 off the over.
The last major threat was Anil Kumble, who also failed to make an impact, with Tiwary picking him for two fours in his first three balls to take Kolkata 60 for 0 after 5.3 overs, effectively ending the contest.
Things were less frenetic after that, and though both openers fell the delivery after they reached their half-centuries, Kolkata eased to a victory that will reinforce the belief in the side and among their fans after the abysmal shows of last season.
Second, and perhaps more significantly, their Indian contingent looks much more formidable this season – the Karnataka trio of Manish Pandey, Abhimanyu Mithun and R Vinay Kumar have all had excellent domestic seasons while Sreevats Goswami, the Bengal wicketkeeper-batsman, topped the run-charts in the recent Vijay Hazare tournament with 568 runs in seven innings. With Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Praveen Kumar, Virat Kolhi and Robin Uthappa likely to play most games, Bangalore won’t be forced to field any makeweight Indian players in the XI unlike in previous seasons.
Deccan Chargers and Bangalore Royal Challengers were the last two teams in the first season of IPL T20 season 2 and were facing each other in IPL T20 season 2 final in this match. Anil Kumble won the toss and put Deccan Chargers to bat. Anil Kumble took the ball himself and dismissed danger man Gilly and several other important wickets to finish his bowling figures at 4/16. Herschelle Gibbs (53 off 48 balls) and Andrew Symonds (33 off 21 balls) shone with the bat for the Deccan Chargers as they reached 143/6 in 20 overs. Bangalore Royal Challengers long wickets at regular intervals when they came to bat and could only score 137/9 in a thrilling final. Anil Kumble was awarded the Man of the Match for his brilliant bowling.