Cheered by a chockablock Eden Gardens crowd, the home side defended their total of 181 for three with gusto, restricting the Daredevils to 167 for eight for their sixth win in 10 outings.
Sourav Ganguly generally cannot do much wrong at the Eden. At the toss, when the commentator asked him about Eden’s love for its favourite son, he offered a wry smile. “I have still got to score the runs,” he said.
Well, runs he scored, took a breathtaking catch, dived all around the park like a man possessed, effected a direct hit and led his men with command as Kolkata Knight Riders, facing a must-win situation, defeated Delhi Daredevils by 14 runs to take some sort of control over their fortunes in the third edition of the IPL.
Ganguly did almost everything right on Wednesday. To begin with, he called right to win the toss and then chose to bat.
Batting second under lights at the Eden is never a good prospect and rival skipper Gautam Gambhir’s face looked like the Nor’wester cloud that entire Kolkata is waiting for.
Then when he came on to bat, the capacity Eden crowd and the millions on TV saw glimpses of his old brilliance. He outshone even Chris Gayle, and that is saying something.
Thanks to their opening partnership of 94 runs in just 10.2 overs, the second-best this IPL after the 101-run stand between Brad Hodge and Manoj Tiwary against RCB, and a 70-run combination between Tiwary and Sri Lankan all-rounder Angelo Mathews, KKR posted a more than competitive 181 for 3 in their stipulated 20 overs.
The hosts left out their marquee paceman from New Zealand, Shane Bond, and opted for his compatriot Brendon McCullum. They also made three other changes, leaving out David Hussey, an injured Murali Kartik and the unimpressive Jaydev Unadkat.
In came Ajantha Mendis to bolster the spin attack, Ashok Dinda the medium pacer and Mumbai’s young all-rounder Iqbal Abdulla.
The initiative taken by Ganguly got further impetus as the left-hander, along with Gayle, got the team off to a flier in the first seven overs, scoring 65 runs with 11 boundaries and one six.
Daredevils had a definite plan for the KKR skipper, aiming to bowl at his legs and tie him down. The wily left-hander, in leg-spinner Amit Mishra’s second over, lifted him over long on for the match’s first six. The visitors’ tactic proved costly as Ganguly repeatedly swept the spinners, Vettori and Mishra, to the fence. He didn’t spare all-rounder Paul Collingwood either.
But when Ganguly, Gayle and McCullum departed in quick succession, the game looked to be going out of KKR’s hands. That is when Tiwary and Mathews took over. Mathews, in particular, slammed three fours and two sixes in his 28-ball 46. He was ably supported by Tiwary (26 in 18 balls with a four and a six each).
The Daredevils are in a rich vein of form and came into the match as second-placed side. But in the very first over, bowled by Dinda, they perhaps got an indication that this wasn’t to be their day. Dinda got the hosts off to a flying start. A quick, slippery delivery on the middle and off stump line sprayed David Warner’s furniture in all directions and sent the 40,000-odd crowd to absolute frenzy. From then on, it was a steady slide for Gambhir & Co.
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