Man Of The Match- Jacques Kallis (KKR)
MATCH RECAP
The IPL-7 got
underway with the match between two former champions of IPL Mumbai Indians and
Kolkata Knight Riders. Gautam Gambhir won the toss and choose to bat first on
the grass covered pitch. Zaheer Khan started well with the new ball, bowling in
the right areas. Gambhir who was clearly struggling against Zak, was done by
full length delivery of Malinga! Manish Pandey started his innings positively.
He always tried to hit boundaries every now and then. But that wasn't
happening, courtesy of some tight bowling by Bhajji and Ojha the spin-duo of
Mumbai. After 13 overs, KKR were 86/1 with Kallis and Manish both playing a
steady run-a-ball inning, with strike-rates around 100-105. Kallis was dropped
by Malinga in 14th over (Pollard's first)! Which turned the game on its head.
Kallis then attacked Ojha in 15th over of the inning, which accounted for 20
runs. Both completed their half-centuries. But were dismissed within the course
of 2 overs. Malinga removed both of then, in between Zak deceived Uthappa. Suryakumar
Yadav the former MI player, played some innovative shots in the last over
bowled by Corey Anderson. KKR managed to score 53 runs in last 5 overs. Final
score 163/5 was a decent total considering the slow nature of the pitch.
KKR bowlers started well with the ball.
Vinay Kumar went for 15 in his 2 overs but from other end, tall Morne Morkel
gave only 2 runs in his 2 overs. That was enough to put pressure on MI openers,
and Narine did the rest by bowling his magic delivery to get the big wicket of
Michael Hussey! Aditya Tare was looking set but he also departed trying to hit
Shakib out of the ground, gave away simple skier catch back to the bowler.
Rayudu on the other hand, was looking in great nick from outset. He was trying
to hit boundaries. But when Morkel came in again, "Back of the
Length" bowling created problems for Rayudu. With required rate creeping
up till 15, Rohit cut loose in 16th over (last over of Morkel)! Just after
hitting a colossal six, he got out the next ball trying to get a boundary once
again. Next over Narine got rid of set Rayudu. Pollard had very little time to
get in with his partner Corey Anderson not reading Piyush Chawla and Narine at
all. They lost the match there. Narine finished with 4 wickets to his name. And
KKR won the match comprehensively by 41 runs!
My Views:-
After Gambhir
failed early, on the little bit tricky wicket, Kallis, the senior-most player
did the smart thing by consolidating and blocking one end! Still he didn’t play
much dot balls, he kept the strike rotating. He let Manish Pandey to play his
natural game. Kallis’ strike rate wasn’t impressive by the T20 standards at the
end of 14th over when he was
dropped. But he knew that it wasn’t going to be easy for the new batsmen to
come in and start hitting from the first ball. And hence he took the
responsibility on himself to score the runs quickly and when he got out his
strike rate was 150+. That’s what experience can do for you. One mustn’t forget
Manish’s inning as well, his approach was brilliant.
For Mumbai
160 odd runs was a chase-able target. They wanted Michael Hussey to play the
same way how Kallis played. But the difference was Morkel’s pace and bounce.
Hussey was stuck at one end, unable to rotate the strike. Narine did the rest
of the job, I still think it was Morkel’s wicket, his brilliant spell put
pressure on Hussey, making him play a wrong stroke against Narine’s “wrong one.”
Rayudu and Rohit batted well together, trying to form a partnership, but the
scoreboard i.e the required run-rate pressure did them both, inducing false
strokes. Narine was good as usual with his magic deliveries. And he was well
supported by all the other bowlers.
I believe
the turning point of this match was Morne Morkel’s 2 overs upfront! He hit the
perfect area and exploited the bounce perfectly. MI played lots of dot balls in
the first 4 overs and that cost the match!
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