Kolkatta clean up Rajasthan, Mumbai wipe out Bangalore

When Rajasthan Royals took on Kolkatta Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens, both teams needed big wins to improve their run rates considerably and have any hopes of making the final four. Rajasthan Royals, electing to bat first, could not give a good account of themselves, managing only 132/9 in their 20 overs. Kolkatta, spearheaded by Ganguly’s 50-ball 75 won the game comfortably by 8 wickets. The chase did not start well though for Kolkatta, with Kamran Khan accounting for the explosive duo of Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle in his third over. Ganguly, however combined with Chetheshwar Pujara (45 of 38 balls) for some sensible batting to take them home in the 16th over and keep their semi-final hopes alive, atleast statistically.

Sourav Ganguly 75 n.o

For Rajasthan, Shane Watson promoted up the order looked to be in full flow and raced to 44 off 26 balls before a slow bouncer from Laxmi Shukla found his stumps. Rajasthan were 59/1 in 7.3 overs at that stage. Two quick wickets of Ohja and Yusuf Pathan pegged them back further, the latter accounted for by an inspired Ganguly catch, running back and diving full stretch. This IPL has certainly been witness to Ganguly in a new fielding avatar. Adam Voges failed to make an impression, hitting one down Murali Karthiks throat off Ashok Dhinda, leaving Rajasthan at 98/4 in 13.3 overs. When Finch was bowled from an inside edge for 21 while trying to pull Shane Bond in the 15th over, the Royals hopes of a big total disappeared. The remaining batsmen scratched around to finish the innings at an unimpressive 132/9 in their 20 overs.

Bangalore was witness to a delayed start for the first match on a sunny Saturday afternoon when the Royal Challengers took on table toppers Mumbai Indians. With some low intensity bombs going off outside one of the stadium gates, there was considerable concern before the start of the match. However, this could only delay the match and not Mumbai’s continued domination of the tournament. Mumbai, put into bat by Anil Kumble, muscled their way to an aggressive 191/4, and defeated Bangalore by 57 runs. Keiron Pollard was the primary wrecker for Mumbai with his 4 overs accounting for 3 Bangalore wickets and 28 runs.

The Challengers were never really in the chase, losing wickets at regular intervals. With Peiterson and Dravid in, it did look for a while like they would make a chase of it, but it was not to be, with Dravid brilliantly caught by Pollard off Harbhajan Singh. Peiterson, Uthappa and Ross Taylor all followed in quick succession, and the end from thereon was not very far.

Earlier, the Mumbai batting rode on a 27-ball 46 from Ambati Rayadu and a late innings flourish of 42 off 19 balls from JP Duminy, the talented South African. The innings pace was set by Rayadu, after Sachin Tendulkar was out for 19, caught by Taylor off Kallis. Keiron Pollard’s explosion of 3 consecutive sixers set up the final 5 overs, and though he was out soon after, Duminy was very effective in taking Mumbai to what in the end proved to be a winning total.