Shakib the Knight as Kolkata ride to victory
Kolkata: At least, Rahul Dravid got the pitch right but the
batsmen would have had a lot to gripe about after an excruciating outing on a
bone-dry track. It was painstakingly slow and obviously not the right
advertisement of Twenty20 cricket, something the Indian Premier League would
have looked forward to a day after the Chennai Super Kings' thrilling chase of 205.
The Kolkata Knight Riders emerged winners but it was hardly
a blaze to glory. The runs were as precious as gold as the batsmen were forced
to give up their aggression. The spinners though had a chuckle or two.
Shakib Al Hasan showed his all-round talent, tossing and
turning the ball before being useful with the bat.
Slow but not steady
In order to break free, Dravid danced down the pitch twice
to slog Jacques Kallis while Ajinkya Rahane swept and caressed Sunil Narine to
the boundary. But the ball was already gripping and Knight Riders captain
Gautam Gambhir quickly deployed spin from both ends.
Shakib dismissed Rahane off his first delivery in the
seventh over and then tempted Dravid with his flight, inducing an easy catch to
Manoj Tiwary at short cover.
Consolidation was required and both Shreevats Goswami and
Owais Shah did exactly that. But launching into the bowling looked easier than
it seemed, with the field spread out and the batsmen given no space at all.
Rajat Bhatia though was a bit generous in providing them
with a lot of width and ended up conceding 16 runs in what proved to be the
costliest over of the Rajasthan Royals' innings. But Gambhir put the brakes on,
and Rajasthan's innings never really took off.
Not quite over
But it was enough encouragement for the Royals. When it was
their turn to bowl, the Royals were equally mean and made the Knight Riders
earn every run.
Johan Botha immediately started to extract alarming turn
while old horse Brad Hogg straightaway settled into a leg-stump line. In
between, Ankeet Chavan impressed too but a risky single led to Gambhir's
dismissal.
Kallis was patient in compiling 31 but fell trying to sweep
Botha. It required Manoj Tiwary to hit a towering six to get the Knight Riders
back in the game, but he too perished in a moment of madness and Hogg got some
initiative back for the Royals.
Shakib's flat six and Yusuf Pathan's four helped release the
pressure before Ryan ten Doeschate hoicked one that ended both the teams' misery.
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