KOLKATA, May 9: Having already experienced an Indian Premier League cliffhanger between Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Super Kings earlier on Thursday, it made for a perfect build-up for the rematch featuring Kolkata Knight Riders and Bangalore Royal Challengers.
It didn’t go down to the last ball — Ishant Sharma bowled a brilliant final over — but two dot balls as Kolkata Knight Riders prevailed by five runs at the Eden Gardens.
Needing 34 runs from the last two overs, Mark Boucher, who scratched around early on in his partnership with Cameron White (30) as the duo got Royal Challengers back in the match, took it upon himself as White was run out on the first ball of the penultimate over.
But despite taking 15 runs from the next four balls, the South African wicket-keeper/batsman denied a single to Praveen Kumar off the final ball to keep strike.
Boucher (50 not out) started the final over off Ishant in fine fashion as he hoicked the first ball to the boundary but refused another single next ball.
The Indian speedster kept his nerve as Boucher didn’t get the big shot, condemning Royal Challengers to their sixth defeat in eight games.
Man-of-the-Match Saurav Ganguly swung the pendulum back for his side with the ball. His three overs cost just seven runs which included the wicket of Royal Challengers skipper Rahul Dravid, while Ishant picked up another which included an outstanding spell at the death.
But it was stupendous fielding from both sides which set a new fielding benchmark in the competition.
Two fantastic run outs got Royal Challengers the upper hand in the match, as Kolkata Knight Riders were restricted to 129-7 in the first rain-curtailed encounter, before the Ganguly-led side took the standards to an unheralded high in the field.
The early loss of Shivnarine Chanderpaul prompted Karnataka’s veteran batsman J. Arunkumar (22) to launch an assault on Umar Gul in the fifth over of play, before Brad Hodge sensationally stopped a skimmer at point and threw the stumps down. But it was a long forgotten man from the cricketing circles who made the capacity Eden Gardens crowd stand up and take notice.
Tatenda Taibu, the diminutive former Zimbabwe captain playing his first game in the tournament, was not donning the gloves behind the stumps. Fielding at mid-on in the fourth over, he pulled off an astounding save. Hit firmly to his right, for a small man, Taibu ran huge steps before diving parallel to the ground to keep it down to one what would have been a sure boundary.
Fortunes had dramatically changed for Knight Riders since the IPL opener against Bangalore on April 18. With the departure of New Zealander Brendon McCullum, wins had also deserted them. After Ganguly opted to bat after rains reduced the rematch of the curtain raiser to 16 overs-a-side, the hosts just managed 129-7.
Summarised scores:
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS 129-7 in 16 overs (David Hussey 26, Saurav Ganguly 20; Dale Steyn 3-28); BANGALORE ROYAL CHALLENGERS 124-4 in 16 overs (Mark Boucher 50, Cameron White 30; J. Arunkumar 22).—Agencies