Howrah News Service -  Latest news and headlines on Howrah,West Bengal and World: Vintage dada leads Riders’ charge

Vintage dada leads Riders’ charge
================================================================================
SportsDesk on 11 May, 2008 04:11:40
 
By Solomon S. Kumar
Hyderabad, May 11: "Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or
what’s a heaven for?" Kolkata Knight Riders’ skipper Sourav Ganguly seems to
be a firm believer in Victorian poet Robert Browning’s famous lines. After
their blazing start in the tournament, the visitors lost their way and needed to
win the grudge match against Deccan Chargers to be in contention for a semifinal
berth.
The odds were stacked against the visitors but some men seem to reserve their
best for such times. The former India skipper, who is known not to give up
without a fight, rose to the occasion and took the bull by the horns as he
helped his side carve out a 23-run victory over the hosts at the Rajiv Gandhi
International Stadium here on Sunday.
Ganguly struck a splendid 91 and then took two wickets and an equal number of
catches to round off a brilliant evening on the field.
Chasing 205 for victory, the Sunday crowd was expecting some fireworks from
their batsmen but the hosts succumbed to the pressure. Skipper Adam Gilchrist
(24) flourished for a while but perished while trying to hit one too many.
Rohit Sharma (33), who had some hot exchanges with Umar Gul and Ishant Sharma,
too failed to last the distance and it was left to Y. Venugopal Rao to indulge
in some lusty hitting to keep the crowd in the stadium. Venugopal, who didn’t
do well as an opener, showed that he is learning the nuances of the new game
quite easily.
He was innovate and also didn’t hesitate to take the battle to the bowlers.
His quickfire unbeaten 71 was the only bright spot in an otherwise dreary
performance. Chargers ended up with 181/7.
The defeat is a body blow to the Chargers, who have themselves to blame.
Barring the early part of the Knight Riders’ innings, the Chargers put up a
pathetic fielding performance. Three catches were spilled and their ground
fielding was nothing to rave about.
Ganguly has always been ready for a challenge and Sunday was no different. With
his team not too happily placed, Ganguly came out to play an innings to remember
and in the process showed that even the 30 plus players could turn out to be
match winners in what is billed as a young man’s game.
Coming in to bat in the first over itself after left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas
had Salman Butt (4) caught behind, Ganguly took his time to settle down. He
proved that the old virtue of consolidation was still in vogue even in the
shortest version of the game.
The southpaw kept the scoring rate over the seven run mark with some
characteristic strokes. Despite opener Akash Chopra not being able to break his
self imposed shackles, Ganguly ensured that his side got a good platform from
where they could launch out. By the half-way mark, Knight Riders were 73/1.
Chopra was run out in the next over for 24 and that changed the course of
events. In strode David Hussey and took to the bowling as a fish takes to water.
Ganguly launched the assault in the 14th over with a six off left-arm spinner
Pragyan Ojha. Thereafter the Chargers were reduced to mere spectators as Ganguly
and Hussey plundered the bowling. For the next six overs, it rained fours and
sixes.
Ganguly, who got his 50 off 40 balls with 10 fours, scored the next 41 off 17
balls with five sixes and a four. The Riders skipper looked set for a century
but was done in by Vijaykumar who dug in a short ball and Ganguly miscued it
down R.P. Singh’s throat at fine leg. But Hussey carried on the good work with
some innovate strokes to all parts of the park. In the process he remained
unbeaten on 57 off 29 balls with four fours and three sixes.
L.R. Shukla used the long handle well to get 14 off three balls. Singh, who had
a poor match, made things worse by conceding four over throws off the last ball
of the innings.