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Journalism of Courage
It came down,in the end,to the last ball. Auckland Aces had four to get. Kyle Mills stepped down the track,gave himself room; Brett Lee followed the movement of his feet,arrowed it full and straight. The batsman only managed to squirt it off his inside edge for a single. The bowler leapt,punched the air,blond hair shimmering under the lights. Kolkata Knight Riders had their win,after a nervy start in their bid to qualify for the main draw of the Champions League T20.
Game of four quarters
With a wicket that slowed down as the ball lost its shine,the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium at Uppal,Hyderabad,produced a game of four quarters two new-ball blocks of roughly ten overs each,dominated by bat,and two phases of play characterised by batsmen struggling to time the ball off the square against bowlers who took the pace off.
After 10 overs,Kolkata were 73 for one. Jacques Kallis and Yusuf Pathan were at the crease,and there was little sting in Aucklands bowling. The bounce was looking true and even; opener Manvinder Bisla had stood elegantly upright and only had to wave his bat airily at the ball to send it screaming through or over the off side field in a 32-ball 45.
To follow were Ryan ten Doeschate,Shakib Al Hasan and Manoj Tiwary,all well-versed in the art of T20 thuggery. In contrast to this effortless multinationalism,the Auckland Aces had only two overseas players Englishman Jimmy Adams and Australian Rob Quiney neither of whom had played international cricket.
Typical Kiwi strangulation
But there was still something to be said for the fact that Auckland won their domestic T20 championship while Kolkata only finished fourth. And so,in typically Kiwi fashion,the military medium bowlers got to work,exaggerating the slight softening of the ball and the apparent slowing of the wicket with their niggly wicket-to-wicket style.
The wickets fell in predictable fashion. Yusuf and Tiwary swung across the line they missed,the seamers hit. In between,Kallis attempted a pick-up shot off Kyle Mills,and was caught on the square leg fence. Ten Doeschate and Shakib were both run out,the direct hits from Jimmy and Andre Adams upholding another stereotypical trait of Kiwi sides.
The last 10 overs brought Kolkata only 48 runs. Andre Adams and left-armer Michael Bates combined to give away only 35 in their eight overs.
Yusuf does the trick
Aucklands innings mirrored Kolkatas in nearly every way,apart from the fact that they had a number to aim at. Having started with a needless first-ball run out that left them bereft of their most dangerous player,Martin Guptill,they got back on track quickly. Jimmy and Lou Vincent put on 60 for the second wicket,at comfortably more than run-a-ball,with Vincent smashing one six and six fours,including three in succession against Jaidev Unadkat.
Kolkatas spinners then proceeded to emulate the Auckland medium pacers,taking the pace off,giving the batsmen no room. Pathan the off-spinner struck the critical blows,taking two return catches off deliveries that gripped and caused Jimmy and Quiney to stab at the ball a fraction early. Together,Pathan and the two left-arm spinners,Iqbal Abdulla and Shakib,sent down 10 overs for just 52. Bowling his dibbly-dobblies,Rajat Bhatia took one for 14.
When Mills and Andre Adams came together,Auckland needed 22 from 11 deliveries. Adams swatted the first ball he faced,off Kallis,for a straight six. But with 11 required from six,Auckland would have preferred facing someone less skilled at death-overs bowling than Lee.
Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 121 for 6 (M Bisla 45,J Kallis 33; K Mills 2/24,M Bates 1/13); Auckland Aces 119 for 6 (L Vincent 40,
C Munro 20; Y Pathan 2/21,J Kallis 1/11)
Ganga blitzkrieg helps T&T win
Hyderabad: Sherwin Ganga shone with a late blitzkrieg as Trinidad and Tobago defeated debutants Ruhuna Eleven by five wickets in the competitions inaugural match on Monday.
Ganga (39*) smashed two sixes and a four as T&T collected 21 runs from the penultimate over and chased down a target of 139 with seven balls to spare after their top-order batsmen,except for Darren Bravo,failed. Bravo contributed an unbeaten 49-ball 44 and shared 53 runs in 26 balls for the sixth wicket. Earlier,Dinesh Chandimal helped Ruhuna post 138 with a patient 50.
T&T captain Daren Ganga credited his spinners for the victory and said the win will boost his sides confidence. We have got some experienced slow bowlers. They have done tricks for us time and time again. We just thought that spinners did the trick today, Ganga said. PTI
Brief scores: Ruhuna 138 (D Chandimal 50,
T Sampath 23; R Rampaul 2/17); T&T 144/5
in 18.5 overs (D Bravo 44 not out,S Ganga 39 not out; J Gunaratne 2/20)
