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Journalism of Courage
At the end of the 11th over of the Kolkata Knight Riders innings,the big-spending advertisers dream of a 300-second break also called known in these circles as a strategic time-out was taken. This would rather neatly divide the chase into two parts. In the first part pre-break,KKR found themselves in all kinds of trouble against Rajasthan Royals pace attack,who in turn made most of the spicy green home wicket on offer. In this period,the Kolkata batting order lost its first six wickets for 56 runs.
At this point,Kolkata were still 89 runs away from toppling Rajasthans first innings score of 144. But they were fast running out of wickets four in hand and balls 54 remaining. In this time,KKR captain Gautam Gambhir had top scored with 22 defiant runs,but a blinder of a catch by Royals wicketkeeper Dishant Yagnik had made him the second scalp of medium pacer Siddharth Trivedis first over the seventh of the innings.
When play resumed,Eoin Morgan and Rajat Bhatia were at the crease,on seven and zero respectively. S Sreesanth ran in with the leather in hand. First ball,full,fast and angling away,Sreesanth beat Bhatia all ends up. Second ball,same ball. But only this time,Bhatia managed to get some bat on it and send it scooting away to the sweeper fence. This was Kolkatas first boundary in 41 deliveries. The floodgates would soon open,courtesy the Irish-born Morgan.
In the next over,Trivedi was brought back to bowl his final over. So far,his figures had read 3-0-8-3. Morgan,though,was in no mood to show any respect,dumping Trivedis first ball over fine-leg for six. And when Bhatia got the strike for the penultimate ball of the over,he further smudged Trivedis numbers by swatting one into the midwicket fence. The over had given KKR 15 runs and a real hope in this contest.
Quick-gun morgan
Morgan began the following Shukla over with as much pomp,a beautiful drive through covers giving him four runs. Then he danced down to the fourth ball and planted the ball behind the sight screen for his second six in two overs. Suddenly,Kolkata needed just 55 from 36 and the commentators on-air began talking about the international T20 in Wankhede last year where the left-hander had delivered England a win from as precarious a situation,with a six off the last ball.
Even after Bhatia was out next ball,the first of the 15th a pull of Tait gone wrong Morgan kept his foot on the pedal,with two boundaries to complete the over. Then he reached his fifty with the most glorious stroke of the day,a slog-flick off speedy Tait. This,then,was always going to be Morgans day. Until he made the very same mistake that two Delhi Daredevils batsmen had committed against medium pacer Kevon Cooper pre-meditating cross-batted strokes against the yorker.
On Saturday,in Rajasthans opening game of the season,Trinidadian Cooper was given the last over of the day. Then,he had held his nerve in a tight finish to dismiss both Johan Botha and Andre Russell with straight and fast deliveries. Today,and on a far more receptive pitch,Dravid gave Cooper the penultimate over,with KKR needing a very achievable 23 runs from 12 balls. He bowled the first one from the back of his hand and the slower ball thudded into Morgans thigh pad and ricocheted on to the stumps well after the decisive non-stroke was played.
This match,unlike Rajasthans first,did not see the 20th over. Cooper finished it off with the wicket of Shami Ahmed off his final delivery of the 19th. Ahmeds contribution with the bat 5 runs was about as significant as the one with the ball,where he conceded 26 runs and went wicketless. And on a conducive pitch like this,for an opening bowler to make no inroads was fatal.
