Eden Gardens may be a world famous stadium but quality of pitches here have almost always been poor. Twenty20 cricket is at it's best when sixes and fours are flowing but Kolkata curators love to hate batsmen. Not that slow and spinning wickets don't produce interesting battle, they rarely do and today wasn't one of those lucky days. Given a 22 yards on which ball was constantly holding up, stroke making was tough and Knight Rider, at home, always had their noses ahead of visitors Rajasthan Royals and went on to win this rather boring match by 5 wickets with four balls remaining..
It was a good toss to win for Royals as batting was bound to get tougher and they got off to reasonable start as well, with captain Rahul Dravid finding gaps against the new ball but as soon as spinners came in, run rate started to dip down. Shreevats Goswami and Owais Shah added 59 runs from 50 balls but acceleration didn't happen after that, except a 96 meters six by Brad Hodge in last over.
Kolkata began their chase watchfully, knowing asking rate wasn't any trouble. Gautam Gambhir's run out provided the first break through but Ashok Menaria and Jacques Kallis fetched 48 good runs for second wicket to set the platform. Manvinder Bisla's run a ball knock and aggression from Manoj Tiwary and Shakib Al Hasan kept visitors behind in the game and just one run was required off the last over which Ryan ten Doeschate's six achieved easily.
Shakib Al Hasan was named man of the match for his attacking knock and three wickets.
| Rajasthan Royals innings (elected to bat) |
| Batsman |
|
R |
B |
4s |
6s |
| Rahul Dravid |
c Tiwary b Al Hasan |
28 |
27 |
5 |
0 |
| Ajinkya Rahane |
c Bisla b Al Hasan |
19 |
16 |
3 |
0 |
| Ashok Menaria |
run out (Pathan) |
1 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
| Shreevats Goswami |
c Balaji b Al Hasan |
24 |
22 |
1 |
1 |
| Owais Shah |
st Bisla b Narine |
31 |
33 |
3 |
0 |
| Brad Hodge |
not out |
12 |
9 |
0 |
1 |
| Johan Botha |
not out |
6 |
7 |
1 |
0 |
| Ankeet Chavan |
|
|
|
|
|
| Brad Hogg |
|
|
|
|
|
| Amit Singh |
|
|
|
|
|
| Sidharth Trivedi |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Extra : |
10 (bye=1, wides=9) |
| Total : |
131 runs in
20 overs for
5 wicket. RR = (
6.55 ).
|
| Fall of wickets : 1-45 (Rahane, 6.1 ov), 2-48 (Menaria, 7.5 ov), 3-49 (Dravid, 8.2 ov), 4-108 (Goswami, 16.4 ov), 5-113 (Shah, 18.1 ov) |
| Bowler |
Overs |
Maiden |
Runs |
W |
Extra |
| Laxmipathi Balaji |
4 |
0 |
27 |
0 |
3 wides |
| Jacques Kallis |
3 |
0 |
26 |
0 |
|
| Sunil Narine |
4 |
0 |
22 |
1 |
|
| Shakib Al Hasan |
4 |
0 |
17 |
3 |
|
| Yusuf Pathan |
3 |
0 |
19 |
0 |
1 wide |
| Rajat Bhatia |
2 |
0 |
19 |
0 |
1 wide |
| Kolkata Knight Riders innings (target = 132 runs from 20 overs) |
| Batsman |
|
R |
B |
4s |
6s |
| Jacques Kallis |
lbw b Botha |
31 |
38 |
3 |
0 |
| Gautam Gambhir |
run out (Dravid) |
11 |
11 |
2 |
0 |
| Manvinder Bisla |
c Rahane b Menaria |
29 |
29 |
3 |
0 |
| Manoj Tiwary |
st Goswami b Hogg |
24 |
18 |
1 |
1 |
| Shakib Al Hasan |
c Menaria b Singh |
16 |
10 |
1 |
1 |
| Yusuf Pathan |
not out |
7 |
7 |
1 |
0 |
| Ryan ten Doeschate |
not out |
7 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
| Debdatta Das |
|
|
|
|
|
| Rajat Bhatia |
|
|
|
|
|
| Laxmipathi Balaji |
|
|
|
|
|
| Sunil Narine |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Extra : |
12 (byes=4, lbyes=2, wides=6) |
| Total : |
137 runs in
19.2 overs for
5 wicket. RR = (
7.08 ).
|
| Fall of wickets : 1-22 (Gambhir, 3.6 ov), 2-70 (Kallis, 10.5 ov), 3-94 (Bisla, 14.5 ov), 4-108 (Tiwary, 16.3 ov), 5-126 (Al Hasan, 18.4 ov) |
| Bowler |
Overs |
Maiden |
Runs |
W |
Extra |
| Johan Botha |
4 |
0 |
22 |
1 |
1 wide |
| Amit Singh |
4 |
0 |
29 |
1 |
|
| Ankeet Chavan |
3.2 |
0 |
32 |
0 |
2 wides |
| Brad Hogg |
4 |
0 |
20 |
1 |
1 wide |
| Sidharth Trivedi |
3 |
0 |
25 |
0 |
1 wide |
| Ashok Menaria |
1 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
|
