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Four-in-a-row for Rajasthan Royals

G. Viswanath

Third consecutive loss for Ganguly’s Kolkata Knight Riders

Asnodkar hammered ten fours and one six
Brad Hodge’s IPL debut lasted a mere three balls

— Photo: Sandeep Saxena

INITIAL ASSAULT: Swapnil Asnodkar, seen here carting medium pacer Umar Gul to the fence, with a quickfire half-century helped his team set up a competitive total.

Jaipur: Once the Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Sourav Ganguly fell, Rajasthan Royals marched towards a commanding fourth straight victory in the DLF-IPL Twenty20 tournament at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here on Thursday.

Till then luck had favoured Ganguly. Substitute Niraj Patel put down a straight-forward chance in front of square off the second delivery Ganguly faced from Shane Watson and then the third umpire came to his rescue when Grame Smith claimed a catch in the deep. Set a target of 197 to win, Riders lost steam after his dismissal and mustered only 151.

For a while the engagement between the two teams appeared to be a duel on level terms. Though Salman Butt lost his off stump to fellow Pakistani seamer, Sohail Tanvir, Ajit Agarkar, promoted as pinch hitter, slammed two sixes and a four. He too ran out of luck nicking one to the ’keeper.

Major blow

The Knight Riders suffered a major blow when Siddharth Trivedi managed to get his fingers to Ganguly’s straight hit just enough to divert the ball onto the stumps and make Brad Hodge’s IPL debut last a mere three balls. Ganguly and David Hussey’s stand only delayed the inevitable and Knight Riders tottering on the brink, lost five wickets for eight runs and the match by 45 runs.

Knight Riders’ anxiety for success was quite palpable as it took the field with the mercury touching 43 degrees Celsius. As expected, Shane Warne, keen on keeping his rivals under the hot sun, opted to bat first. The Royals sprung a surprise when aggressive opening batsman Swapnil Asnodkar stepped out along with Smith.

The South African left-hander’s eight-minute presence was marked by full face of the bat defence before impatience got the better of him. Touching 140kmph consistently the gangling Ishant Sharma slanted in a delivery that found its way past Smith’s bat and hit his leg stump.

Fearless hitting

Meawhile, Asnodkar, with a reputation for fearless hitting on the Indian domestic circuit, began with a top-edged four off Dinda. It was the beginning of a remarkable and exhilarating 53-minute IPL debut for Asnodkar.

He smashed Sharma straight down the ground, pulled Ajit Agarkar’s first ball for a six and proceeded to show what a short man like him can do to a ball. Asnodkar hammered ten fours and one six, a back foot stroke through point off Agarkar being the highpoint.

Giving him able company was Yusuf Pathan. Their manner of batting was almost the same, their ideas and execution free and airy. There was no grappling with theory. Asnodkar’s footwork was quick enough to lift the ball over the inner ring.

In between, Mohammad Kaif played a cameo that sustained pressure on the fielding side.

The scores: Rajasthan Royals: G. Smith b Ishant 2, S. Asnodkar c Hussey b Gul 60, M. Kaif c & b Agarkar 21, Yusuf Pathan b Gul 55, S. Watson lbw b Gul 0, R. Jadeja b Shukla 33, S. Warne (run out) 7, S. Tanvir (not out) 3, M. Rawat (not out) 1; Extras: (b-1, lb-6, nb-4, w-3) 14; Total: (for 7 wkts in 20 overs) 196.

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-53, 3-106,4-111,5-168,6-190, 7-192.

Kolkata Knight Riders bowling: Dinda 4-0-30-0, Ishant 4-0-26-1, Agarkar 4-0-46-1, Gul 4-0-31-3, Hussey 2-0-26-0, Ganguly 1-0-14-0, Shukla 1-0-16-1.

Kolkata Knight Riders: S. Butt b Tanvir 7, S. Ganguly c Kaif b Warne 51, A. Agarkar c Rawat b Watson 20, B. Hodge (run out) 1, D. Hussey b Trivedi 42, L.R. Shukla (run out) 2, D. Das c Watson b Tanvir 11, W. Saha b Trivedi 1, U. Gul (run out) 2, Ishant (not out) 1, A. Dinda c sub b Watson 1; Extras: (b-3, lb-2, w-7) 12; Total: (in 19.1 overs) 151.

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-44, 3-51, 4-119, 5-121, 6-143, 7-145, 8-147, 9-151.

Rajasthan Royals bowling: Watson 3.1-0-22-2, Tanvir 4-0-30-2, Trivedi 4-0-31-2, Patel 4-0-29-0, Warne 2-0-20-1, Yusuf 2-0-14-0.

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