Kolkata win by 11 runs on D/L method

Kings XI Punjab v Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL, Durban

Gayle helps Kolkata home in rain-hit game

The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga

April 22, 2009

Kolkata Knight Riders 79 for 1 (Gayle 44*, McCullum 21) beat Kings XI Punjab 158 for 6 (Yuvraj 38, Pathan 32, Ganguly 2-24) by 11 runs by D/L method
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Sourav Ganguly took two wickets in his first over, Kings XI Punjab v Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL, 6th game, Durban, April 21, 2009
Sourav Ganguly took two wickets in three balls in his first over to set Punjab back © Getty Images

Sourav Ganguly made yet another comeback, this time with the ball, to help Kolkata Knight Riders keep Kings XI Punjab down to 158 for 6. Thereafter, Chris Gayle made the most of two dropped chances to dishearten Punjab and take Kolkata 11 ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis par-score when heavy rain ended the match in the 10th over.

Ganguly had been quiet in the lead-up to this tournament; he had lost his captaincy and looked out of sorts in scoring 1 in 12 balls against Deccan Chargers. Today, though, he made his statement with the ball, taking two wickets in his first over and pulling Punjab back from a solid-yet-unspectacular start.

When Ganguly came on to bowl, Irfan Pathan, promoted to No. 3, had just taken Ishant Sharma for 14 in his third over, and Punjab had moved along to 46 for 1 at the end of six overs. Thirty-two of those had come from Irfan's bat, in 17 deliveries.

And then Ganguly struck, fortuitously at first. Irfan went for a six to the deep midwicket area and was caught smartly by Murali Kartik at the boundary. Two balls later, Ganguly got Ravi Bopara, the opener, to edge to the new captain, Brendon McCullum. Both men were elated, the captain with his bowling change, the bowler having proved a point, and both ran in different directions to celebrate and eventually hugged each other.

Punjab moved from 46 for 1 in six to 67 for 3 in ten overs before a rain interruption. Following that, Punjab enjoyed two of the best overs of their innings. Yuvraj Singh hit a six off Ganguly to take 14 off his third over. Yet, Ganguly ended with figures of 24 for 2 off his four. And just after the rain break, in perhaps a poor tactical move, McCullum brought Chris Gayle on, who had trouble gripping the wet ball and bowled three wides in his 14-run over.

Yuvraj couldn't quite manage a reprise of his six sixes in an over at the same venue, during the inaugural ICC World Twenty20. And once he top-edged Moises Henriques in the 16th over, falling for 38 off 28, caught by Yashpal, Punjab were always struggling.

Thirty-six came off 26 balls after Yuvraj's fall, thanks largely to Mahela Jayawardene, who scored 31 in 19, and took the last over, bowled by Ashok Dinda, for 16, the biggest over of the innings.

But the hitting from Irfan, Yuvraj and Jayawardene paled in comparison with Gayle's. He played the first two overs quietly, and enjoyed a dropped sitter by Karan Goel at short midwicket off Yusuf Abdulla. It was a forgettable day for Goel, who had earlier scored a seven-ball duck.

Once Gayle carved Irfan over cover-point in the third over of the innings, the floodgates opened. From 4 off 8 balls, he reached 31 off 15 through a calculated assault on the left-arm opening bowlers. And then, in the fifth over of the innings, the game breaker came. Irfan was spanked straight and pulled square off the first two balls, and then Gayle showed him the greens, teeing off to over wide long-on.

By the time Gayle was dropped again, by Kumar Sangakkara, off a Piyush Chawla googly, he had taken the match out of Punjab's reach as the dark clouds gathered.

For the second game in succession, Punjab have been curtailed by rain, but this time they succumbed to Ganguly and Gayle, as opposed to their first match, when Delhi's chase was reduced to a six-over hit-out.

Trouble in KKR camp: Shah Rukh avoids Ganguly in team meeting

CAPE TOWN: "Hey, you’re from the Indian media?" asked a young lady at The Newlands, wearing that black and gold Knight Riders T-shirt. Yes ma’am,
one replied. "Shah Rukh Khan!" was the yelling that followed. "You can surely help us meet Shah Rukh," she and quite a few of others along with her demanded. Sorry, can’t help you there.

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Well, Shah Rukh Khan is a busy man. On Sunday though, he was tied up a little more than usual after Knight Riders suffered a heavy defeat against Team Hyderabad in their first match here. Not that journalists have that easy access to the superstar so as to introduce him to the ladies, but on Sunday, even the thought of going and meeting him was banished.

The moment KKR finished their game and rushed back to the hotel, Khan was already there. And by the time they finished with their dinner (reluctantly), he was already keen to meet them. He spoke to quite a few. While none agreed to disclose the contents of the conversation, it was visible that the one player who Khan didn’t talk to was Sourav Ganguly.

What’s brewing? A couple of players heading back to their rooms hardly opened their mouths. "The media should know, right?" they said.

The one issue that tore into a bagful of controversies in the Knight Riders’ camp even before the IPL began was John Buchanan’s multiple captain theory. Was that the reason again or were there old wounds that haven’t healed? Or was it just Sunday’s loss? "We just had a bad day out there. The batting didn’t click. We’ll be looking to get better in the next game," skipper Brendon McCullum said post match. He didn’t want to comment on anything related to the multiple captain issue or the Ganguly-Buchanan or Ganguly-Khan relationship.

McCullum has been going around telling the media here about how KKR captaincy hasn’t become a matter of ego. "It’s quite a healthy atmosphere in there," he’s been quoted as saying. But that didn’t allow the side to come up with an impressive performance. They were bowled out for just 101 runs in 19.4 overs.

Even if McCullum’s word is to be taken, Sunday’s defeat won’t help the rumours die. Instead, fresh ones like "Sourav may not play the next game" or "Khan has given the players a sermon" and "Players are saying Buchanan committed a blunder by sending Aakash Chopra at No. 5" were doing the rounds.

For the record, it was a loss by eight wickets, but more than that, it was salt on a wound that’s fresher than ever. The ladies wanting SRK’s autograph will have to wait.

KKR drops Sourav Ganguly as captain

It seems the debate over the multiple captains in the Kolkata Knight Riders team is resolved for now.

Team sources at Kolkata Knight Riders have told NDTV that Brendon McCullum will be the captain for the entire second season.

He will replace former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly, who also led the KKR squad in the first season of the Indian Premier League.

Now, it means that McCullum will go out for the toss while Sourav Ganguly, who was expecting to stay on as captain, will only have a senior management role along with Chris Gayle.

McCullum was perhaps first choice for Shah Rukh Khan's team not just because of his skills at 20-20, but because he is available for the entire event.

KKR have been using different captains in each of their practice games in South Africa, but it's not yet clear whether this experiment has been junked or will carry on in some form even during the event.

McCullum named Kolkata Knight Riders captain

Putting all speculation into rest, Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders appointed New Zealand batsman Brendon McCullum as captain of the team.

McCullum will replace Sourav Ganguly for the second edition of the tournament, which kicks-off in Cape Town on Saturday.

KKR meet Hyderabad Deccan Chargers in their opening match on April 19.

McCullum's appointment comes in the wake of Knight Riders coach John Buchanan pitching for multiple captains for the tournament.