May 12, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 6, 1429

HYDERABAD (India), May 11: After a torrid run through the first seven matches of the Indian Premier League, Saurav Ganguly finally made his presence felt with the bat in stunning style to fashion a convincing 23-run win for the Kolkata Knight Riders over Deccan Chargers here on Sunday.

Ganguly carved a 57-ball 91 knock, which coupled with a blinder from David Hussey, lifted Kolkata to an imposing 204-4, that was far too much for the hapless Deccan Chargers, who collapsed to their seventh defeat in nine games and are all but out of the competition.

Kolkata’s batting display was the perfect example in pacing a 20-over innings.

Through the first half, Ganguly and Aakash Chopra batted steadily and built a platform: after 10 overs, only 73 were on the board, but with nine wickets in hand, there was plenty of ammunition left.

That was put to outstanding use later in the innings, as Hussey blitzed 57 off 29 balls in a 102-run partnership that came off a mere eight overs to set up a target which ensured Deccan have lost all four games at home.

Deccan didn’t help their cause in the field either: apart from Herschelle Gibbs, the rest put in a woeful display. There were misfields galore, Chaminda Vaas muffed a sitter late in the innings to reprieve Tatenda Taibu, while the last ball of the innings encapsulated the day’s performance, as R.P. Singh’s attempt to throw down the stumps missed the mark and resulted in four overthrows.

After such a battering in the field, Deccan’s only hope was for Adam Gilchrist to fire — especially since Shahid Afridi wasn’t in the line-up — but he only managed 24 before miscuing a pull off Ashok Dinda. The out-of-sorts Gibbs, who has now scored 45 in five innings, had already fallen in Dinda’s second over, leaving the rest of the batsmen with far too much to do.

Ganguly, who took the catch to dismiss Gibbs, was in the thick of things in the field as well, bowling four economical overs, and taking two wickets, including that of Styris, another big name who has done little.

Rohit Sharma offered a glimmer of hope with a couple of typically classy sixes off Ganguly, but, quite fittingly, Ganguly had the last laugh, snaffling him at midwicket.

Venugopal Rao played a brave hand with a 42-ball 71 and spoilt the figures of Murali Kartik by smashing three sixes in an over, but that only ensured the margin of defeat wasn’t an embarrassing one.

With four wins from eight games, Kolkata are back in the reckoning for a semi-final berth. Deccan still have a mathematical chance of making the top four, but given their form so far, that will be a miracle.

Summarised scores:

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS 204-4 in 20 overs (Saurav Ganguly 91, David Hussey 57, Aakash Chopra 24); DECCAN CHARGERS 181-7 in 20 overs (Venugopal Rao 71, Rohit Sharma 33, Adam Gilchrist 24; Ashok Dinda 3-33, Saurav Ganguly 2-25).—Agencies