Knight Riders please Eden fans with thrilling 5-run win

9th May 2008

The Kolkata Knight Riders have registered a breathtaking 5-run victory against the Bangalore Royal Challengers amidst a bursting-at-the-seams Eden Gardens crowd and an electrifying atmosphere here tonight to get back to their winning ways after suffering four consecutive losses in the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL).

The rain gods wanted to party in the eastern regions of the country tonight but did not disappoint the 80,000 plus fans that had gathered to support Dada and his boys, as a 16-over per side match started a little before 10 PM Local Time. It was definitely worth the wait for the fans!

It was a 32-over rollercoaster ride - from David Hussey cracking three spectacular sixes, to Mark Boucher and Cameron White's antics at the end, and most importantly, a cracking spell of fast bowling from India's budding fast bowler Ishant Sharma. Shah Rukh Khan was there with his whole crew to cheer the Knight Riders and it was a spectacular match and easily one of the best of the tournament thus far.

The reactions of the Knight Riders at the dugout after the victory was achieved told many a story as the tension could be cut through with a knife in this combat. It was wholly Dravid versus Ganguly - two great adversaries, despite India teammates - and two teams that were wholeheartedly hysterical to clinch two crucial points as the second half of the tournament got underway today. The Royal Challengers have still managed only two wins and have problems aplenty.

Chasing a taxing target of 130, the odds were quite alike as the team batting second was to find it easy in such a shortened gala and especially under damp conditions with the ball getting increasingly difficult to grip for the likes of Murali Kartik (0-24).

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (7) and J Arunkumar (22) mugged around and amassed only 17 runs after 3.3 overs until the former fell victim to Ishant Sharma. Mark Boucher (50) was promoted up the order, which proved to be a masterstroke by Dravid as the vibrant glovesman cracked quickies Dinda (0-20) and Gul (0-30) for plenty and reinforced the lost momentum in the Royal Challengers innings.

Knight Riders skipper Sourav Ganguly proved more than a handful with the ball, conceding just 7 runs from his 3-over spell. The underscore of his gentle seamers came when he clean bowled India teammate and opposite number Rahul Dravid in the tenth over. Royal Challengers were left reeling at 51/3 after their captain's departure.

The Royal Challengers would so rue their sluggishness today that they were tottering at unhurriedly cruising at 53/3 at the end of 10 overs! They required 78 runs from 36 balls but managed to eventually get just five runs shy of the target - Dravid and co. have every right to be thwarted after this exhibition.

Boucher (50 not out off 40 balls; 5x4, 1x6) and Cameron White (30 off 16 balls, 3x4, 1x6) stepped on the accelerator with some lusty hitting to bring to life a humdinger. The Australian all-rounder is widely renowned as a Twenty20 expert and tonight he surely gave a demonstration of his abilities. The turning point of the contest came when White was unluckily run out at the non-striker's end in the penultimate over of the run-chase. Too much was left for Mark Boucher to do as the Royal Challengers needed 19 runs to win from the last over.

Earlier, Sourav Ganguly won the toss and elected to bat first as Zimbabwean wicketkeeper-batsman Tatenda Taibu made his IPL debut. The 24-year-old did not don the role of the glovesman tonight but was acrobatic in the field and saved plenty of runs when the Knight Riders took the field later in the night.

Shoaib Akhtar's IPL debut eludes him as his fitness worries have kept him out of the equation. A new opening duo saw another IPL debutant Aakash Chopra take guard alongside Aussie veteran Brad Hodge. The former was trapped LBW by Dale Steyn (3-27) in the third over and Hodge (10) was dismissed 8 balls later when he scooped a Zaheer delivery to Praveen Kumar at mid-off.

David Hussey (26 runs from 12 balls) continued to justify his $675,000 price tag with some blistering striking to provide plenty of amusement to the home fans. He smashed three huge sixes and added 26 runs with Ganguly (20) for the third wicket until a ‘fantastic' piece of fielding from Cameron White caught the Prince of Kolkata short of his crease in the eighth over. Taibu (15), Shukla (11), Saha (17*) and Kartik (17) chipped in with useful contributions lower down the order to steer their side to a healthy total.

The Knight Riders now have six points from seven games, while the Royal Challengers have moved further down the path of oblivion as they succumbed to their sixth loss in eight ties, managing only four points so far.

The Sourav Ganguly-led franchise will now square off against the Deccan Chargers when they travel to the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday.

In a battle of the top-ranked versus the lowest-ranked, the struggling Royal Challengers will square off against the formidable Kings XI Punjab in their own den at Mohali on Monday.