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Ganguly show lays Deccan Chargers low

V.V. Subrahmanyam

Knight Riders keeps its chance of qualifying with emphatic victory

This was the fourth straight defeat at home for Deccan Chargers
Ganguly and David Hussey put on 102 for the third wicket

— Photo G. Krishnaswamy

IN OMINOUS TOUCH: Sourav Ganguly, who hit sixes at will, hoists one over the ropes

HYDERABAD: Sourav Ganguly’s batting was all about timing. And, the Prince of Kolkata left an indelible impression on the capacity crowd with a special effort (91, 57 balls 11 x 4, 5 x 6) and complemented it with a two-wicket haul to script Kolkata Knight Riders’ 23-run win over Deccan Chargers and keep its chances of qualifying for semifinals afloat in the DLF Indian Premier League match at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Sunday.

For the host, this was the fourth straight defeat at home and is languishing with four points from nine matches while Knight Riders have eight points from eight matches.

For Deccan Chargers, chasing a formidable 205, the fortunes revolved around the form of the explosive Adam Gilchrist. He seemed to be in the mood, pulling Ishant Sharma to the fence and then on-driving Ashok Dinda and hitting him over his head for two fours in the fifth over. But in the same over, he pulled straight to the mid-wicket to the delight of Knight Riders.

Gibbs fails again

This after another Herschelle Gibbs’s failure when he slashed Dinda straight to deep third man. Two big blows which saw Chargers press the panic button.

Suddenly, Knight Riders bowlers looked menacing on the same pitch by virtue of their consistent line and length with Dinda picking three wickets. Though Rohit Sharma (33, 24 balls, 3 x 4, 2 x 6) came up with yet another impressive knock it was for a lost cause again. So was the scintillating effort from Y. Venugopala Rao (71 not out, 42 balls, 4 x 4, 6 x 6) which included two stunning sixes — one over point off Ishant Sharma and another over mid-wicket off Umar Gul.

Top gear

Earlier, it was Ganguly (Man of the match) show all the way. He made a mockery of the bowling with some unbelievable strokes. Coming in at four for one in first over, he quickly moved into top gear and during his 69-run stand off 59 balls for second wicket with Akash Chopra, he made the latter look out of place.

Ganguly was lucky in the 14th over when he picked left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha for special treatment. He lofted him for a huge six over long-on and off the next ball was lucky to see the usually-reliable Herschelle Gibbs react late to another big hit which just greased his palm before sailing over in the 14th over. Ironically, Gibbs was the culprit again when he dropped David Hussey (18) off Scott Styris in the16th over.

An unperturbed Ganguly turned his attention to Styris, pulling him nonchalantly into the stands. Then Hussey (57 not out, 29 balls, 4 x 4, 3 x 6) joined the party treating Vaas with utter disregard slashing him for a four and playing an inside-our stroke over covers for a massive six.

Ganguly and Hussey put on 102 for the third wicket in 48 balls which effectively pushed the host into depths of despair. The former was unlucky to miss a century mistiming a pull off Vijay Kumar straight to the deep. But by then he had done his job. And as if rubbing salt in the wound, R.P. Singh — the most expensive bowler, in his over enthusiasm to run out Laxmi Ratan Shukla at striker’s end, conceded four overthrows.

The scores:

Kolkata Knight Riders: S. Butt c Gilchrist b Vaas 4, A. Chopra (run out) 24, S. Ganguly c R.P. Singh b Vijay Kumar 91, D. Hussey (not out) 57, T. Taibu c Teja b R.P. Singh 9, L.R. Shukla (not out) 14; Extras: (lb -1, w -3, nb-1) 5. Total (for four wkts. in 20 overs) 204.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-73, 3- 175, 4-190.

Deccan Chargers bowling: Vaas 3-0-36-1, Vijay Kumar 3-0-21-1, Styris 3-0-28-0, R.P. Singh 4-0-59-1,Venugopal 4-0-24-0, Bangar 1-0-10-0, Ojha 2-0-25-0.

Deccan Chargers: A. Gilchrist c Ganguly b Dinda 24, H. Gibbs c Butt b Dinda 5, D. Ravi Teja c Saha b Gul 10, R. Sharma c Ganguly b Dinda 33, S. Styris c Shukla b Ganguly 5, Y. Venugopala Rao (not out) 71, S. Bangar c Chopra b Ganguly 2, C. Vaas b Shukla 9, R.P. Singh (not out) 6; Extras: (lb-8, w-4, nb-4) 16. Total: (for seven wkts. in 20 overs) 181.

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-41, 3-41, 4-63, 5-95, 6-123, 7-161.

Kolkata Knight Riders bowling: Dinda 4-0-33-3, Ishant 3-0-27-0, Gul 4-0-43-1, Ganguly 4-0-25-2, Kartik 3-0-29-0, Shukla 2-0-16-1.

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