Cricket Tournaments

Cricket is one of the most beautiful games to watch as well as play and I don’t think being from India, where people consider it as a religion, anyone here will have a doubt about it.  With over more than 100 years since the first ever match was played between England and Australia, this game went on beautifying itself with the way it was played.

Playing in true spirits, I’ve always admired some players. But what hurts my sentiment for this game is the way the beautifying effect has been just torn apart by certain players lacking basic sportsman spirit, money and the politics.

Rest aside, getting politics into cricket, just doesn’t seem to be a good idea. Despite being a ‘gentlemen’s game’, cricket and controversies always go hand in hand. Cricketers and their boards are constantly getting engaged in the mind games and the politics of the game.

Spats between cricketers and their respective boards have been going on since a long while. Right from Greg Chappell-Sourav Ganguly which gave rise to the fact that cricketers are mere employees for the board and nothing more. Chappell’s spat with Ganguly not only saw the worst spat ever occurred between a coach and a player but also showed how a player of caliber like Ganguly was treated in India. BCCI, being the most powerful and financially well-off cricket boards, has its own set of rules and treats players basically like slaves. But what weakens BCCI’s power is the fan base in India. Cricket being considered as a religion, the fans would just protest against BCCI if there’s anything going against a high-profile cricketer. Though media can always turn out to be the culprit.

Nevertheless what people fail to understand, is that politics is everywhere and to think that it’s only in India is just naïve. WICB-Chris Gayle, CA-Simon Katich, PCB-Shahid Afridi and it goes on and on to prove the fact that other boards do get engaged in politics too and it’s just that it hasn’t been openly talked about.

Axing senior players like Chris Gayle, Shivnaraine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, what kind of team were they ever going to make? Others kept aside, Chris Gayle was on a mission to prove the board officials what they were missing on. And what he does is in style! Smashing sixes all over the ground in the just-concluded IPL, he was like a tornado coming towards the other teams. And this obviously infuriated WICB officials that he chose to play for IPL, instead of waiting for WICB officials to respond. Keeping him out of the current squad against India made the matters worse with WIPA supporting Gayle too. As the war of words goes on, who would axe senior players like them without even disclosing it in front of them? Politics plays its role.

Being in India, would you ever think of removing Sachin Tendulkar or for that matter any player who’s in his prime form with just the matter of fact that age is not by his side? That’s what exactly Australian cricket board has done! Scoring with an average of around 50 after his return to international cricket, no-one had ever thought of him being axed. Being in as many as 17 century partnership at the top after his return, Australia’s opening partnership was the most stable and effective. And the reason been given, ‘We want to forge a better opening partnership for Ashes 2013’. Is this a reason to give, when Katich has better averages than anyone else in the team after his return to international cricket? Why would you want to get rid of one of your best players? Just a bit baffled!

Even Stuart Clark was treated in a very much similar way, though he didn’t protest as such. And if two players are talking about this, there has to be some problems on the other side. And i’m sure there will be more players, just going against CA will make life worse for them.

Though PCB-Shahid Afridi tussle has been two-sided, where just because of stripping him from captaincy, Shahid Afridi decided to quit international cricket. Later again he was in a war of words with PCB and coach Waqar Younis which made the matters worse. Pakistan already at a point where their cricket doesn’t look like being stable any-time soon, with his retirement it looks even more awful. Being a two-sided mistake, you cannot just comment on what is it all about.

But what surprises me is that the board officials consider their players as mere contracted players and basically slaves who are supposed to do whatever the board wants when under contract. The politics played is intense and can’t get through it. Though the entire thing isn’t out, but what matters is all this is just affecting the game.

On top of that, with match-fixers and bookies all around, it makes worse. Even the fact that players favoring club over country hurts, but then it’s their own decisions though.

Cricket is to get back to the way it was, when there were no tussles, when every-one played their heart-out to represent their country, when match-fixing was never even a word in dictionary.

India - England

India’s tour to West Indies has already kick-started with a win over them each in ODI’s and the T-20 formats. With youngsters giving a chance to prove their mettle in tests as well since the senior players have been given some rest, people are looking forward to the positives coming out of this series as this will prove how strong is India’s bench strength. However, this series hasn’t been the talking point which surprises me quite a lot as India- West Indies rivalry has been phenomenal as years have passed on, though it has lost its touch in the last decade or so.

With India touring England in the month of July this year, the focus has completely shifted on to them. With India playing overseas after a long time, it has to be a tough one to go past. Ganguly said,” India will win in West Indies, but England will be tough”. This looks quite true with the fact that England has been playing phenomenal cricket around and have been going great guns. Retaining Ashes cup at away and defeating Australia at their home ground is no sort of joke. Though their ranking in ODIs is quite higher when compared to their performances but when it comes to tests they’re just looking for a chance to throttle India from the top spot. And when you have the opportunity to defeat India in their own den with flurrying bouncers and swing that takes away the game from the Indian counterparts.

But what makes England a serious competitor to the #1 ranking which India has earned so deservedly. These players are certainly to be credited.

Alastair Cook

Averaging 48 in his test cricket, he gives England a perfect start what a team actually needs. But what has been exceptional, is the way he has come up and shown what he means to his team. He was the main reason to why England retained the Ashes trophy. A run machine for England, he scored 766 runs in 5 tests he played with an exceptional average of over 120. With 3 centuries, 1 double century and 3 more half-centuries he had a splendid series. And that happened in just about 7 innings in which he played. Even in the ongoing series against Sri Lanka, he has already notched 335 runs in just 3 innings. Being in blazing form, he is the torch-bearer for England at the moment and certainly the man to watch out for.

Jonathan Trott

An exceptional player, playing just 19 tests has already notched 6 international hundreds which includes 2 double hundreds already. A prolific batsman, he has been in tremendous form this year, winning the cricketer of the year award for England. In the Ashes series tour he was next only to Alastair Cook and Michael Hussey for the number of runs he has scored. An exceptional double hundred in the 1^st test he played against Sri Lanka in the ongoing test series, was an example of his unbreakable defense. Always on the lookout for runs, he is going to be tough one to breakthrough.

Greame Swann

Been considered to become the best off-spinner, he certainly has got the talent to be one. With a career 135 wickets and a splendid economy rate of 2.9, he has always kept on the batsmen and never let him score runs. He always keeps the batsmen in defense and keeps him thinking all the time. The batsman ultimately succumbs to the batsmen and gives away his wicket. Making a debut in 2000 for an ODI, he was called back in 2007 and ultimately cemented his place in the team. Playing his spin is difficult, and with India touring to England in July, it’s going to be a strong but healthy rivalry between the best off-spinners in the world at the moment, Swann and Harbhajan Singh.

James Anderson

The spearhead of the England pace attack, he has been phenomenal this season. With 24 wickets in the Ashes series, he dismantled the Australian batting line up with sheer pace and his swinging ability. An experienced bowler, he is one of the best pacers in the world today along with Dale Steyn, Zaheer Khan and Brett Lee. Though injured at the moment, it’s highly likely that he would recover before India’s tour and would get the perfect rest before such a high-profile series which would decide to who actually deserves the #1 ranking. Pace and swing is all that he’s got, and with the England pitches he wouldn’t need anything more except the experience and intelligence which he’s god-gifted.

Apart from these players, there are many more players who have been in exceptional form. Just the fact, that these players have taken away the limelight from the other players. Andrew Strauss along with Ian Bell and Matt Prior also has notched up some outstanding performances. Ian Bell especially has been consistently performing. Kevin Pieterson, though injured for the moment he has been well impressive for England in a couple of matches himself.  Even in the bowling department, Chris Tremlett has been phenomenal. Picking up 17 wickets in the Ashes tour and demolishing the Sri Lankan side along with Swann to win the test match which was always looking for a draw, he has given England a bowler to support Anderson.

A tough time ahead, India is not going to take this series lightly. M.S.Dhoni, the calmest ever captain the cricketing world would have ever seen, might know it better but it all falls down to square one. Defending the number 1 spot against a team like England is going to be tough. Laxman said,”I never got a 100 in England. Hopefully, it would be very special if I get a 100 at Lord’s and India wins the match,” Preparation has to be tough and I don’t think India will falter at this point atleast. A rivalry to watch out for, India-England has always been exceptional to watch. Right from early days, to taking out shirt incident by Andrew Flintoff and Ganguly mocking the same one, to Yuvraj Singh hitting Stuart Broad for 6 sixes in an over. There might be many more moments which I wouldn’t have been even aware about.

A tough schedule ahead, India-England is going to be an interesting tie to watch.

This is a day Indian fans would not wish to remember. In 1994, Kapil Dev played his last international match, and in 2003, India were thumped by Australia in the World Cup final in Johannesburg.

Kapil Dev won the World Cup in 1983 as India captain , the same being the only instance. He turned out for his last Test match in Hamilton. He finished the Test with just 2 wickets to his name, but had the world record of 434 Test wickets until Courtney Walsh broke it a few years later. He also was a part of the ‘elite’ club as he hit 5248 runs in his 131-Test career. Although Stephen Fleming, one of New Zealand’s all-time best skipper, made his Test debut in this game and scored 92, it was an emotional farewell for Kapil, who would still be remembered as one of the greatest cricketers India has ever produced.

This day, ’03 would have hurt more than 1994, as Sourav Ganguly had a golden opportunity to become only the second captain after Kapil to lift a World Cup. But India ran into a steam engine, an in-form Australian unit in the final.

Ganguly though seemed to have lost the plot at the toss itself, when he astonishingly decided to put Australia into bat on a flat Johannesburg pitch which was a little moist, due to overnight rain. A brave decision had boomeranged big time. Zaheer Khan, the then-young fast bowler bowled a shambolic first over, giving 15 runs and the game was going in Australia’s favour.

A good start by openers Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist set the platform for one of the best ODI innings played ever in cricketing history, let alone World Cups. And that came off the bat of Ganguly’s counterpart, Ricky Ponting who scored 140 runs off 121 balls. He played with such audacity that no Indian bowler was spared off this blitzkrieg. But one cannot forget the contribution of Damien Martyn who hit 88 runs of 84 runs, ably supporting Ponting, despite having a broken finger.

India’s fate was sealed by the end of 50 overs as Australia scored 359/2, the highest total in a World Cup final. Sachin Tendulkar, the highest run-getter of the competition gave India a lot to cheer about with the first boundary he hit, but the next ball he was tamely dismissed by Glenn McGrath. Wickets kept falling at one end despite Virender Sehwag putting up a brave fight, scoring 82 runs off 81 balls. The target was always out of reach for India and a rain break in between did not help much. India crashed out for 234, giving Australia a comprehensive 125-run victory and the World Cup title for the second consecutive time since 1999. Ponting led his men to world domination, just a year after taking over as ODI captain. And this enhanced Australia’s power to become ‘world-beaters’.

Also, today is the birthday of former England captain Michael Atherton who would be duly remembered for his famous tussle with Allan Donald in 1995-96 in South Africa, and his steadfastness with the bat in that series. ‘Athers’ as he fondly referred as, is currently on the commentary team with Sky Sports. And today is also the 9th death anniversary of Ben Hollioake, the English cricketer who expired due to a car accident in Perth, which left a deep impact on the entire team as he was one of the loved and popular members of the team.

Ok, our actors seem to get crazier by the day with cricket. And it all started from a phenomenon called Lagaan and it made Aamir Khan one of the legends of Bollywood. Then his fiercest rival, Shah Rukh Khan took it in his stride and endorsed Pepsi, with the great Sachin Tendulkar which makes him the king of marketing till date. Then there were movies like Victory where a desperate Harman Baweja wants to make himself famous across the world when he hits Brett Lee for a six, even if its reel! I mean why is cricket such a hit amongst our actors, when their profession is filled with glamour and not with action with bat and ball?
Yes, the best possible answer is the emergence of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008. It made cricket marry Bollywood in the best possible way as actors are perhaps in the same class of society as businessmen. Although the beautiful Sharmila Tagore married Nawab Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and Neena Gupta had a love child with Sir Vivian Richards, it never struck anyone that Bollywood had a connection with cricket.
Coming back to the IPL, Lalit Modi used all his charm to woo Preity Zinta to own a huge stake in Kings XI Punjab. And didn’t Preity oblige well enough? Well, she had a boyfriend already in the name of Ness Wadia with whom she could mix business and pleasure. Perhaps Ms. Zinta is a little old, so thought that a double-date would certainly help her rule the game of cricket. And what better than the dashing playboy of Indian cricket, Yuvraj Singh being her puppet since he was the icon player of the team. Preity called the shots by buying Brett Lee, who she has a crush on as well going by the interviews and photos circulated in the media. She loves cricket and indeed wants to rule it. Maybe she wants to return to Bollywood at the age of 35 because she has the hots to woo any actor since she can woo boring cricketers! Preity, your presence has been a pleasure for all of us to watch and has made Kings XI Punjab such an interesting team to watch because it depends on your mood whether the team will win or lose.
In 2008, the IPL also saw the Royal Challengers Bangalore being created by liquor baron and a known ladies man, Vijay Mallya. Mallya marketed the team well enough by picking up a Test team for a T-20 championship and also flying in US cheerleaders for the opening ceremony. However, Preity Zinta’s presence made him crave for an actress. And the actress who accepted the invitation was the ravishing and beautiful Katrina Kaif. It seemed that Mallya wasn’t happy being accompanied by Katrina everytime she rendered herself available. And the team was getting distracted with her being around as they finished 7th in the first season. So Mallya thought, lets get Deepika Padukone as well. Shes a Bangalore girl, and for certain much more of a sports fan than Katrina which would make Dippy baby available on a regular basis. And here comes in Deepika. Anything in two is always better than one and it worked for Mallya as his team did well in the next two seasons. And whats more, Deepika has been a better investment than Katrina since she has wooed his son, Siddhartha Mallya so much that now they are in a relationship. Deepika certainly rules the franchise since Bangalore gains enough publicity with her personal life always spoken about, and the cricketers can always be entertained with her sensuous looks and desperacy for the younger Mallya, whereas Vijay Mallya can look after Katrina well. And whats more, Deepika and Katrina are pure enemies and cat fights are the perfect entertainment for otherwise boring days for them, where they are just playing and nothing else. I must say, the future of Royal Challengers Bangalore is set to be great as Mallya has two hot actresses by his side and cricket will never be the same again to watch.
2009 saw Shilpa Shetty enter IPL just as her compatriot, Preity Zinta. She bought a 12.5% stake in the Rajasthan Royals with her shorty firang partner, Raj Kundra. And with Shilpa being in full flow, Rajasthan were only going to benefit the most. Shane Warne, the womanizer that he is, would have cashed in this opportunity and perhaps felt that his IPL future is set with her being around, so what if he is 40+? And look, he was retained by Rajasthan for this years IPL too. Yusuf Pathan looked so desperate with Shilpa Shetty watching him as he won the Super Over against his current employers Kolkata Knight Riders in 2009 and also in 2010, scored a 36-ball 100 against Mumbai Indians. Shilpa loves Yusuf for his power-hitting and so Rajasthan wins everytime Yusuf feels like giving back to her the compliments she deserves. Anyways the whole team is filled with young players, who surely are gullible to Shilpa’s beauty and as a result, Rajasthan Royals also matches Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders in making the IPL a global brand due to the glamour quotient present in large numbers.
And lastly, Kolkata Knight Riders has Shah Rukh Khan as their owner, making it by far the most popular team in the IPL just as Manchester United in the EPL. However, Shah Rukh seems to have taken all attention since his team has failed in all the three seasons. He actually is the ruler of cricket since he calls the shots on the players and is involved in decisions such as making Baz or Brendon McCullum the captain of the team in the 11th hr in South Africa or making Sourav Ganguly a mere puppet in the hands of John Buchanan, the former coach.
Bollywood certainly loves cricket as there is drama, action, comedy, romance which is present in movies too. And ofcourse money and power too, which superstars crave for.

Despite a blazing start after being put into bat by the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy stadium, the Kolkata Knight Riders went down to the home team in a crunch encounter. While Sourav Ganguly’s men will have to own up a lot of responsibility for the shattering defeat, one must admit the Bangalore bowlers pitched in with a high-spirited performance.

In the 12 over of the game, Kolkata were cruising at 103 for 1 when Ganguly fell for 33. The remaining batsmen, barring Brendon McCullum, lost the plot completely as the side ended on a rather mediocre 160 for 9, way short of what they should have ideally achieved. In contrast, Bangalore were consistent throughout their batting stint. Rahul Dravid and Robin Uthappa achieved half-centuries in their typical style as Bangalore were home with nearly three overs to spare.

For Kolkata, it was the story of what might have been. Chris Gayle and Ganguly looked in supreme touch at the start. The former was in an exceptionally murderous mood, akin to the one against Punjab. Utilizing his strength to the best of his ability, he put Pravin Kumar’s medium pace to the sword. Six boundaries and a mighty six came off his bat as Kolkata raced to their 50 at the rate of 10 runs per over.

They couldn’t have asked for a better start. Even though Gayle fell to Jacques Kallis for 34 (off 15 balls), going for another smashing hit, Kolkata should still have done much better than where he ended up. Instead their batting graph only plunged from thereon.

The game began to change drastically following Ganguly’s dismissal. A mistimed pull saw him depart for a rather slow 33. This dismissal buoyed the bowling side. Anil Kumble kept things extremely tight, so much so that one of his overs only went for a single. At the other end, Dale Steyn steamed in and beat the struggling Kolkata batsmen for pace on numerous occasions.

And, as it has happened before in the tournament, R Vinay Kumar was the chief beneficiary. With runs not coming at the other end, the batsmen took him on and perished one after the other. It was Kumble though who got the main scalp, ending McCullum’s smart knock of 45.

Chasing eight runs an over, all Bangalore needed to do was bat sensibly. Kolkata did come hard at them though and made matters somewhat tough. Ashok Dinda carried on from his impressive effort in the last game. This time he accounted for the red cap holder Kallis, inducing an edge off his bat when on eight.

That said, the South African should have been in the hut for a nought, if not for a difficult catch to Ganguly going down. This wasn’t Kolkata’s best performance in the field. Later in the night, Ajit Agarkar dropped a sitter offered by S Sriram.

In the midst of all this, Dravid, pushed up to number three, kept the runs flowing. He played some crunchy drives on both side of the wicket and also stroked a couple of authoritative sixes en route to his half century. When he fell in the 14th over, Bangalore still needed 59. But, with Uthappa in the form that he is, it was a breeze.

He took Ajantha Mendis and Ishant Sharma to task, and ended up with whirlwind 52 not out. It was a superlative batting effort even though the fate of the game was sealed much earlier.

In a match where fortunes shifted constantly, the Kolkata Knight Riders got the better of Delhi Daredevils at Eden Gardens thanks to a spirited effort by their bowlers. The eventual margin of victory, 14 runs, may read like a rather comfortable one, but that hardly told the story of the hard-fought match.

Both teams constantly jostled for the upper hand. And, it wasn’t until a rampaging Virender Sehwag was dismissed by Ajit Agarkar for a superb 64 that Kolkata began to feel that they were in with a good chance. Their batting effort told a similar tale. At one stage, it looked like they would struggle to cross 160 despite a rapid start provided by Sourav Ganguly and Chris Gayle. But, Angelo Matthews’ power hitting towards the end saw them reach 181 for 3, which proved to be a match-winning score at the end of the day.

One of the defining aspects of the game was the manner in which Ashok Dinda took Eden Gardens by storm. The quickie, who had done nothing noteworthy so far in the tournament, was handed the new ball by his skipper. This was a huge responsibility considering that Kolkata had failed to defend 200 even against the punching bag of the tournament, Kings XI Punjab.

And Dinda responded in an unbelievable fashion, cramping David Warner for room for four consecutive deliveries and shattering his stumps off the fifth. It was exactly the kind of start KKR needed. But, it was only fair to expect a fightback from Delhi.

Sehwag and skipper Gautam Gambhir batted in an extremely smart fashion to keep Delhi ahead in the race. The former was undoubtedly lucky when Rudi Koertzen was unwilling to raise the deadly finger after Sehwag had nicked one off Dinda in the bowler’s second over.

That dismissal could have turned the game. Instead, Sehwag rode his luck and carried on. Though swashbuckling, it was a smart innings. He picked the man he wanted to go after, Angelo Mathews, and saw to it that he maximized the score. In two overs, Sehwag slammed his innocuous medium pacers to all parts of the ground and, in no time, Delhi were up and running again. As expected, Gambhir was excellent against the spin of Ajantha Mendis and rotated the strike frequently as well.

Kolkata needed some inspiration, and it came in the form of a run-out enforced by the captain himself. Ganguly cut short his opposite number’s innings with a sharp, accurate throw from mid-on. But, Sehwag continued to bat with utmost comfort and raced past his half-century. It needed a special delivery from Agarkar, full and slower in the air, to end Sehwag’s magic. It did not help Delhi that Paul Collingwood was foxed by Mendis just a few overs earlier. However, the wicket of Sehwag nailed Delhi.

Though the win must be dedicated to the bowlers, it wouldn’t have been possible without noteworthy contributions from their batters. Gayle and Ganguly, looking better with each game, added 94 for the opening wicket in under 11 overs. Then, despite the loss of a few quick wickets, a stroke-filled 46 off 28 balls from Mathews gave them the proper impetus. The bowlers then did excellently to ensure they did not repeat the grave mistakes they committed against Punjab.

Only Sourav Ganguly can do it. He may have retired from international cricket, but continues to invite wrath from all over, only to silence the murmurs in one go. Prior to the crucial game against Deccan Chargers, there were calls for Ganguly to go down the order and allow big hitters to bat at the top.

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.

There are lessons to be learnt in every defeat. But, the Kolkata Knight Riders don’t seem to believe in this mantra. In what was yet another inexplicably slow batting performance at the Brabourne Stadium, the Knight Riders managed to put up a mere 155 runs on the board against Mumbai Indians.

This, despite having lost just a solitary wicket at the start of the final over. The Knight Riders had a lot going for them. They won the toss and elected to bat. More importantly, Chris Gayle was available to open the innings with Sourav Ganguly. And while the duo did well to add 70, the problem was that it took 11 overs, too slow for the 20-over format.

Worse still, Ganguly was dismissed after having consumed 34 deliveries for his 31 and though Owais Shah and Gayle managed to strike some hefty blows towards the end, it was a case of too little too late.

No praise can be too high for the Mumbai bowlers though. They plotted Kolkata’s downfall methodically. It all began with the maverick Lasith Malinga bowling a succession of slower off cutters to Gayle, who was completely taken by surprise. The only answer he had was to present a straight bat or let the ball through to the keeper safely.

The smart strategy meant the Kolkata innings never gained momentum. Though Ganguly began well with a couple of well-timed fours in the opening over, he too was tied down by some tight bowling. Harbhajan Singh was especially impressive. Following the batsmen with most of his deliveries, he never gave either Gayle or Ganguly any chance to free their arms. A frustrated Ganguly finally fell to the guile of the off-spinner, going for an ugly slog to midwicket.

If Kolkata did manage to cross 150, it was due to the late assault by Gayle and Shah. They picked up important boundaries off Ryan McLaren and Dwayne Bravo. But, Zaheer Khan got them both in final over to reduce the damage done during the death. Gayle ended up with 75 off 60 deliveries. And, though it looked great in the overall analysis, the fact of the matter was that he should have opened up a lot earlier. The lethargic attitude of the Kolkata openers easily cost them 30-40 runs, which proved fatal in the final analysis.

For Kolkata to put up a fight in their defence, leave alone winning, they needed Shane Bond to deliver the early strikes. On the contrary, he was wayward and ended up conceding three boundaries in the opening over and thus set the tone for the remainder of the match. Sachin Tendulkar (71*) batted in the manner he knows best, driving and cutting with ease.

It did help that Ishant Sharma offered him a number of freebies either on a length or short of it. Once again, it was Murali Kartik who managed to slow down the flow of runs with his accurate left-arm spin. He even broke the dangerous opening partnership, beating Shikhar Dhawan in the flight. But, but that time, Mumbai had swiftly progressed to 61 in under seven overs.

Sachin continued to dazzle even as Ishant managed to pick up a couple of consolation wickets towards the end. But, it was yet another below par effort by Kolkata. They were thoroughly outplayed, tactically more than anything else.