Deccan Chargers – They dwelled at the bottom of the table for most of the Season 1; Season 2 witnessed their phoenix like rise from the ashes The defending Champs lead by the inspirational Adam Gilchrist wanted a win under their belt in their new home. Anirudh Singh was making his debut, with Gilly, Laxman, Gibbs, Symo and Rohit completing the famed batting array.
Kolkata Knight Riders – After a nightmarish Season 2, KKR and SRK would have been more than happy to return to India
EARLY SETBACK
Chaminada Vaas, the wily old fox, struck gold in the very first over, Tentative Manoj Tiwary gone for a nought, Dada followed 3 balls later, Late swing undoing both the batsmen. Chargers were of to an awesome start. Pujara showed glimpses of his art through two exquisite leg glances; Harsha Bhogle was reminded of the bequest this Saurashtra lad was carrying forward, legacy of the great Ranjitsinhji. Hodge targeted the nervous Jaskaran Singh with good effect; KKR seemed to be get going. Pujara departed when he failed to clear Pragyan Ojha stationed at mid on and when Jaskaran got the wicket of Hodge, the scorecard read 31- 4 in 5.1 overs. A Deccan Chargers steamroll was on the cards.
CONSOLIDATION
Angelo Mathews hit his very first ball into the stands for a maximum and there on started the comeback process, alongside Owais Shah he knitted a 130 run partnership to build a reasonable target and a late flourish ensured that the chargers needed to score at over 8 to open their account in the IPL. Ojha bowled with conviction though R.P was disappointing.
THE CHASE
Gilly and Laxman started of rather cautiously, while KKR embarked with sloppy fielding. Hodge dropped Gilly in the second over and Gilchrist made KKR pay with 2 successive boundaries in the very same over. Ever tried Bhatuure with sambhar, well,
Laxman was pretty much in that kind of a situation. The ever elegant Hyderbadi was trying to slog every other ball, and that too to some good effect, eventually he was holed trying a slog against the spin of Murali Karthik, but not before giving his team a solid and decent start. Gilly on the other hand carried forward strongly with a trademark flick to deep square leg for a massive six. The captain reached his fifty with another inside out lofty hit for maximum. He seemed to be in a hurry, but when Brad Hodge turned his arm for the first time, it yielded with a Gilchrist wicket, probably the turning point of the match.
PALTRY SHOT SELECTION
The wicket of Adam Gilchrist somewhat threw open the floodgates and poor shot selection led to Deccan loosing grip over the match. Karthik, Mathews and Shukla bowled brilliantly in the middle overs giving away nothing, sticking to basics. After a very subdued 24 ball vigil Gibbs tried to show some aggression, dancing down the pitch reaching out for an outside off stump delivery and throwing his wicket away. Symonds went similarly attempting to pull of a wide short pitch ball in no position to play that shot. Rohit sharma was undone by superb slower short pitch by Angelo Mathews and KKR were in with a chance. Some tidy bowling in the fag end of the innings put pressure on Deccan batsmen, eventually the bowlers coming out triumphant.
KKR 1 _ DC 0
MAN AT ARMS
Clearly Angelo Mathews was the Shining Knight both with the bat and bowl, aptly supported by Owais Shah. He is not only a power hitter to the core but a sensible cricketer with brains. He will definitely prove to be a cardinal force for the Knight Riders in the coming matches.
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