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Bemused by the title? It was becoming too big so I went the SMS way. Most of you would have sure decoded it. For those that still need help, no need to press F1, the title is below:

IPL 2 – Day Fourteen – Kolkatta Knight Riders Fight to Lose and Mallya made to Cheer.

First, the first match; between Kolkatta Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians.

I expected a repeat of the previous match between the two teams when Mumbai just thrashed KKR with big hitting coming from the Indian and Lankan superstars – Sachin and Sanath, especially when there was no big improvement in the KKR performance in the intervening period.

As if confirming my expectations, McCullum once again lost the toss (he is not winning even the toss?). Since Mumbai Indians was led by neither McCullum nor Kevin Pietersen but Sachin Tendulkar with confidence he decided to put the runs on the board.

Had KKR won the toss or Mumbai sent KKR in to bat first, there was the risk of Mumbai not getting to bat the full twenty overs. I think Sachin wanted to have some good match practice before meeting better teams in the tournament.

McCullum is either a slow learner or a no learner. He once again included Ajit Agarkar in KKR team to strengthen the batting of Mumbai Indians. Since Agarkar is considered an all rounder it automatically meant that Mumbai’s bowling was also strengthened as they got two KKR wickets even before a ball was bowled in the match.

Unlike the previous encounter between the two teams, Sanath Jayasuriya failed to fire this time scoring only six runs. Tendulkar continued his good form but he also was slightly less dominating than in the previous match (between the two teams) scoring 34 off 30 deliveries. (In the previous match he was unbeaten on 41 after facing 34 deliveries).

Among the rest of Mumbai Indians except for JP Dumini none else made any substantial contribution. Due to persistent fall of wickets Dumini really could not take a dominating role in the proceedings. He was pretty quite nudging singles in the first 25 odd deliveries he faced. As the slog overs approached Duminy opened up carting Lakshmi Ratan Shukla and Ashok Dinda over the fence, each two times helping Mumbai in the process to set a target of 149 for KKR.

Any other team will fancy chasing such a total without much difficulty. But not Kolkatta Knight Riders. Since he was getting out invariably in the first over of the innings McCullum opted out of opening the innings and sent Dada to open.

But it was not Dada’s day out and he got out to get back into the dug out dragging the very first delivery faced by him on to his stumps making Zaheer come out of the Idea commercial to celebrate.

Gayle followed Ganguly back to the dug out ten deliveries later.

What followed was one of the best rear guard actions seen in this IPL. KKR had lost already lost two wickets and it was almost like having lost four as McCullum and Agarkar were only technically not out. With such high pressure, Hodge and Van Wyk applied themselves admirably to forge a fantastic 79 run partnership which would have gone further on if Ravi Shastri didn’t comment on that. The moment he appreciated the partnership Van Wyk got out for 32 really valuable runs for KKR.

When Van Wyk departed KKR still needed 51 runs off five overs. Not an impossible task if McCullum was in good nick. He was not and so instead of coming out to bat at this stage, he sent out Lakshmi Ratan Shukla who could not take on the fire power of Zaheer Khan and Mallinga and got back to the pavilion taking seven balls to score six runs. At a crucial stage when just 30 balls remained to score 51 runs, sending out an inexperienced batsman to the crease was a very bad move. Sending even Agarkar would have been considered a better move.

Eventually there were too few deliveries available and that too super quality bowlers like Zaheer Khan and Mallinga that KKR lost out even after having four wickets on hand. It was once again a display of poor captaincy from Brendom McCullum while Sachin was a thinking captain rotating his bowlers all the time. He used Mallinga’s four overs in three bursts (5th,12th,16th and 18th) while Zaheer and Bajji bowled their quota in two spells of two overs each.

The second header of the day (and night) was between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab. Lady luck had already started smiling at Royal Challengers with Kevin Pietersen Flying King Fisher to join the England squad for the upcoming series against West Indies. Anil Kumble was made the captain of BRC and I think there was none else better suited to lead BRC than Jumbo.

(As I have devoted lots of words for the KKR V. Mumbai Indians match, I am going to finish off writing about this historic match quickly. My wrist is paining).

BRC won the toss and elected to bat first and before some of the spectators settled down to watch the match Jesse Ryder was dismissed by Irfan Pathan off the fifth ball of the very first over.

Wickets fell at regular intervals though Bishnoi, Virat Kohli made useful contributions scoring over fifteen runs each. Kallis made 27 while Van Der Merwe, another South African on display top scored with 35 and BRC finished with 145.

It is not news that Yousuf Abdulla took four wickets for Kings XI, but Yuvraj performing a hat-trick, only the fourth in IPL, is sure headline news.

11.5	Yuvraj Singh to Uthappa, OUT, Uthappa tries to go over the top with a slog and he gets a thick top edge, Katich runs forward from deep midwicket and takes the skier
	RV Uthappa c Katich b Yuvraj Singh 19 (17b 2×4 0×6) SR: 111.76
11.6	Yuvraj Singh to Kallis, OUT, the arm ball foxes him! Lands on the offstump and goes straight through, Kallis is too late to get his bat down and the ball shaves the off stump
	JH Kallis b Yuvraj Singh 27 (22b 4×4 0×6) SR: 122.72
Royal Challengers Bangalore 80/5 Yuvraj Singh 2-0-14-2
13.1	Yuvraj Singh to Boucher, OUT, That’s hat-trick No.4 in the IPL! That’s yet another arm ball which fetches him a wicket, he slips in the fast arm ball which lands on the offstump, skids through and clips his front pad in front of the stumps as he shapes to work it to the on side, the umpire lifts the finger immediately
	MV Boucher lbw b Yuvraj Singh 2 (4b 0×4 0×6) SR: 50.00

Set to score 146 for a victory, Punjab opened with captain and hat-tricker Yuvraj and Karan Goel; Ravi Bopara had already left for England like his would have been opponent KP.

For the second time in this IPL Yuvraj was in complete command and batted in the fashion he is known for. He took just 34 deliveries to sprint to his fifty (very slow when you compare to the 12 ball fifty he scored at the very same ground against England in the Twenty/20 World Cup). When he departed, Kings XI needed 76 runs off 61 balls for a victory and Punjab had not lost any wicket except Yuvraj’s. Knowing the track record of BRC every one would have only backed Kings XI Punjab to win the match from that strong position.

However, one man had other ideas. That was Anil Kumble. He was just remarkable as a bowler, fielder and above all Captain. It was hard to believe that I was watching someone knocking at the doors of forty years as he displayed an enthusiasm of a twenty year old as he took the very important wickets of Yuvraj and Kumara Sangakkara.

Kings XI lost the important wickets of Sangakkara and Irfan Pathan just near the home bend when they just needed 17 runs to win off 12 deliveries. It would have been a familiar story for BRC if Kumble had not taken the crucial wicket of Sangakkara bowling the 19th over and then Pravin Kumar removed Irfan Pathan in the 20th sealing any hopes Punjab XI would have had of winning the match.

It was a victory for Royal Challengers Bangalore after many matches and ultimately Mr. Vijay Mallya could really raise a toast for his team!

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