Kolkata’s
iconic player – Sourav Ganguly finally
played a knock worth his price in the
IPL. Dada looked like a different
product all together today at the Rajiv
Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal,
Hyderabad. He was driving with
confidence, lofting with conviction and
pulling with near perfection on his road
to 91. People had already written off
about his value in this format of the
game, but the southpaw came good to
inspire a thumping 23 run-win for his
team over the Deccan Chargers this
evening at Hyderabad.
After winning the toss, Kolkata decided
to bat first and had a very cautious
start. Salman Butt opened the innings
along with Aakash Chopra and the left
hander didn’t last long to make way for
Skipper Ganguly. The pair of Chopra and
Ganguly survived a few run out chances
before the former ran himself out for 24
(from 23 balls with 3 fours). Kolkata by
then had got themselves a solid start
with the score at 73 for 2 in the 11th
over.
David Hussey joined the party after that
and what was to follow was a run feast
along with Dada. Ganguly was at his best
in paddle sweeping and doing a risk free
job until in the fourteenth over, all of
the sudden he thought that his team was
keeping too many wickets for too late.
The urgency started to show from the
batting side and young David Hussey
looked a part as well and countered the
irritating length of Scott Styris.
Experience and expertise came handy when
Ganguly put his foot on the gear and
went after every bowler to make sure
that Kolkata head towards a big total.
The onslaught of a combined attack from
Ganguly and Hussey proved too hot to
handle for all the Deccan bowlers. In
the form of a mishit, Ganguly was caught
at fine leg to fall nine short of a
maiden T20 century. His 91 included five
towering sixes and eleven fours. Nothing
was going right for the Deccans as they
misfielded time and again, dropped
catches and missed a couple of run out
chances. The all important 3rd wicket
partnership was almost an epidemic for
the Deccan bowlers.
The final over witnessed a 3-ball cameo
from Laxmi Ratan Shukla (14*) with a
bonus overthrow as a fitting end of the
innings. But it will be unfair to
overlook the contribution of Hussey, who
was equally devastating in his well made
57 of just 29 balls (4 fours and 3
sixes). The best bowler for DC was
surprisingly Venugopal Rao with his
lesser known off breaks which yielded 24
in 4 overs.
To chase a score of 205 was not a joke,
it was a tough ask for the Deccans. They
started with much promise which was very
short lasting. Gilly and Gibbs both were
having the power to outplay the
opposition, but it wasn’t to be. Gibbs
went cheaply by gifting his wicket to a
short and wide one from Ashok Dinda.
Gilly then took on the mantle of playing
the big hits which was brought to a
quick end by Ganguly’s clever planning.
Gilchrist (24 from 17 balls with 5
fours) fell in the trap of playing the
pull shots and Ashok Dinda got one to
hurry onto him to present a simple catch
to Ganguly.
With both Gibbs and Gilchrist gone,
Deccan had their hopes pinned on Rohit
Sharma who announced his arrival with a
first ball four. He made his intentions
clear and also sent Ganguly twice out of
the park. The experienced Scott Styris
was now expected to bring Deccans back
in the hunt along with Rohit, but the
Kiwi all rounder disappointingly skied
one off Ganguly to Shukla. The score
reduced to 63/4 in the 9th over much to
the delight of the visiting side.
Eventually the lone man fighting – Rohit Sharma
had to depart as well. Rohit kept his
consistency in the tournament though with a neat
24-ball 33 which had 3 fours and 2 sixes. After
his fall, the writing was on the wall for yet
another home defeat for the Chargers. However,
there was a magic innings from Y Venugopal Rao,
who realized his true potential with an unbeaten
knock of 71 in just 42 balls. Venu had got 4
fours and 6 sixes, but his efforts went in vain
as the Deccan Chargers fell short by quite a
long way. Sourav Ganguly followed up his 91 with
a tidy 4-0-25-2 with the ball to make sure that
he got his second consecutive Man of the Match
award.
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