Luck refused to favour the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) once again, even in a closely-fought game against the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) at Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Their batting was quite steady, with Brad Hodge delivering, at 70 not out, spanning 10 boundaries and one six. McCullum, Gayle, and Ganguly, each did their bit, though they could not last at the crease long, and a final burst of effort between Hodge and van Wyk took the KKR score to a respectable 153.
Punjab started off rather poorly, with the loss of an early wicket (Sangakkara). They gained confidence though, with the partnership of Sohal and Katich, bolstered by poor fielding by Kolkata, with many dropped catches. It was round about now that a pall appeared to descend on the KKR dugout, as evidenced by the less-hearty shimmers of the cheerleaders (I jest). The Punjab batting was rather strong, witnessing 4 sixes and 13 fours. Even so, the game went into the final over, and KXIP required 7 runs.
Agarkar bowled the over, with poor fielding by Saha giving away a run and putting Jayawardene on strike. He wasted no time in clearing the boundary and another single, putting the scores even with two balls remaining. All fielders were positioned at the circle, and the final ball was played through the infield for one run and much jubilation on the part of Punjab, putting them in second place in the points table, and further solidifying KKR's hold on the bottom spot. The game could have gone either way, though, and apart from the poor fielding, there wasn't much to fault the players or the captaincy.
No comments:
Post a Comment