And these were fair observations, as Ganguly had been sluggish throughout the series bar a 50, thereby allowing the opposition to get on top of Kolkata ever so often. But, Ganguly being Ganguly preferred playing the bad boy and, like so many times before, made it work and paved the way for his side’s much sought-after 24-run win.

The former Indian skipper slammed a memorable 88, rolling back the years at his home ground Eden Gardens to set up a challenging target of 182 for Deccan Chargers, with some good assistance from David Hussey. All the bowlers then chipped in and ensured that Deccan were always behind in the race despite a whirlwind start.

Herschelle Gibbs was the only one who kept Deccan’s hope alive with a half-century. But, on a pitch that was getting slower by the second, Kolkata bowled smartly and even a defiant 45 by Andrew Symonds could not save the defending champions from plummeting into further trouble.

Forget the rest, even Kolkata’s win. This was Ganguly’s game. Yet again, things weren’t easy for the beleaguered skipper and his men. Batting first, Kolkata were struggling at 68 for 3 after Chris Gayle and Cheteshwar Pujara fell early, the former failing to read an off-cutter from Symonds while the latter was also done in by the same bowler’s gentle medium pace.

A lot depended on Manoj Tiwary, but a disappointing shot against Pragyan Ojha put an end to his tale. The only positive to emerge from the disastrous start was Ganguly was finding his feet at other end.

He was in his elements from ball one, flicking it off his hips for a boundary. And, there was no looking back. He cut with confidence and was in his own when he lofted Kemar Roach for a maximum to long on. The timing was back and so were the gaps. All he needed now was support from the other end. That arrived in the form of Hussey.

Looking to resurrect the innings, Hussey collected a number ofn risk-free singles at the start of his innings, instead of trying to match Ganguly’s serene strokeplay. The duo gathered 78 in 7.3 overs, with some help from the opposition skipper as well, Gilchrist missing a Ganguly stumping when on 67 — another indication that this was Ganguly’s day.

Kolkata celebrated it by amassing 65 runs from the final five overs. Hussey got into the act with a couple of mighty sixes.

Chasing 182, Deccan were more than breezy in their start, aided by debutante offspinner Mohnish Parmar, who was asked to open the bowling. The first three overs went for plenty before Ajit Agarkar, who was also punched for a couple of boundaries, struck the telling blow by getting Gilchrist to mistime one.

Gibbs continued to flourish at the other end, with his typically wristy strokeplay. However, some tight bowling from Kolkata meant the run-rate was pegged back and once Shane Bond returned to end Gibbs’ stay, only the formalities remained.

The ability more than will has been missing. Once, the god off the off side—he doesn’t seem to be what he was famed for. His form for the knights has left a lot to be desired and despite this he’s still loved in the city which holds the ‘Eden gardens’. With a series of low scores in the 2010 IPL season, dada’s future looks uncertain.

He hasn’t been able to provide the much needed impetus either upper or lower down the order and more so after he decided to be KKR’s perfect number 3. With the Huge auction all set to unveil itself in the month of June this year and with IPL commissioner Lalit Modi tinkering with the rules a wee bit—Ganguly’s future ‘certainly’ looks uncertain.

In the auction that is to come in June all players will be back in the pool i.e. including icon players. This basically means that come June it may not be compulsory for a team like Kolkata knight riders to pick Ganguly (unlike the last time). This could very well mean that this could be Sourav Ganguly’s last turn out in the IPL (Considering his dismal performance off late).

If dada wants to get back in the thick of things he must ensure that his form is right up there with some consistent performances for the knights in this season. In the four matches that he has played in the IPL this year he has scored a total of 67 runs with a highest of 33 at a strike rate of 90.

You’d expect that a batman who comes in at number 3 would either be a stabilizer (busy player in this form) or a big hitter. Ganguly seems to be caught hanging between the two and as a result is unable to put up the runs on the board. It would be advisable that the KKR management consider putting him in at number 5 or 6.

Once T20 veteran Victorian David Hussey is back along with West Indian skipper Chris Gayle, the KKR foreign combination should change drastically. McCullum too should be back by the 1st of April. When that happens, Gayle and McCullum should open with Manoj Tiwary at 3 and David Hussey at 4.

Bond or langeveldt could occupy the 4th position. Ashoke Dinda, Ishant Sharma, Murali Kartik and Ishant Sharma should bowl 4 each with Gayle, Hussey, Ganguly and Gavaskar (Rohan) filling in 4 or more Overs between themselves.

The whole idea is to define Ganguly’s role in the team or send him down the order. KKR cannot continue on this basis or they would be seen emulating their first season’s performance.

Earlier in the day, the bushrangers skipper David Hussey had won the toss and elected to bat at the Adelaide oval. The Victorians were going nowhere until Aaron Finch decided to cut lose in the 4th over.

Finch had been given a chance when he was bowled by Shaun Tait of a no-ball. He capitalized on that chance and went on to make a 34 ball 47. Just when Victoria threatened to take the game away the Red backs broke through letting no major partnership to form. In fact at the 15 over mark the Red backs were bossing the game with the bushrangers at a 109 for 5.

The Red backs were doing the bowling bit right—they almost had one hand on the title. However, it was not to be as Aiden Blizzard had other ideas. The south paw hammered the South Australian bowlers all around the park. He scored 42 of 19 balls including 3 fours and 3 huge sixes at a strike rate of 221.

The left arm spinner Aaron O’Brien was easily the Red backs best bowler with figures of 4-0-26-3. He came on in the power play and struck with his third ball when he had Hodge caught and bowled. He accounted for McDonald and Wade too. The Victorians at the end of their 20 Overs managed a more then respectable score of 166.

South Australia were behind the eight ball right from the start of their innings when they lost their captain Graham Manou for a duck (first ball of the innings) to Nannes. The Victorians quietened the crowd even more after Harris fell to Pattinson caught at midwicket.

South Australia were reeling at 13 for 3. But, it couldn’t be all over, could it especially with ‘cash-rich’ Pollard still to come. Pollard and Cosgrove did put on a decent stand but once that was broken it was curtains.

Although Pollard did flex a muscle or two it was all too late in the bargain and he holed out to David Hussey at the deep midwicket boundary who took a splendid catch. He took the ball above his head running backwards. He knew he was going to touch the rope and showed admirable presence of mind tossed the ball up regained his poise and took the catch. South Australia finished at 118 of their 20 Overs.

Both teams were missing key players due to international commitments. Victoria had managed to win without their regular skipper Cameron White who was on international duties and Shane Harwood. On the other hand the South Australian Red Backs were without their leg-spinning Pakistani all rounder Shahid Afridi. The Bushrangers have managed to win 4 out of the five editions. One going- to the New South Wales Blues.