The Hindu : Sport : Rajasthan Royals storms into the semifinals

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Rajasthan Royals storms into the semifinals

S. Sabanayakan

Knight Riders falls by the wayside

Royals moves up to 18 points
Knight Riders remains on 10

— Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

STORY OF THE DAY: Knight Riders was all at sea against Rajasthan Royals, this dismissal of Debabrata Das by Sohail Tanvir being a perfect example.

KOLKATA: It is all over for Kolkata Knight Riders. For the Shah Rukh Khan-owned side the inaugural DLF-Indian Premier League is almost over though it has two more matches left.

Diehard supporters may come up with many permutations and combinations that could keep the side’s chances of a semifinal berth alive but the reality is that Shane Warne and his Rajasthan Royals has ensured the elimination of Sourav Ganguly’s Knight Riders.

The Kolkata side will now play for minor places in this Twenty20 competition.

Modest target

Faced with a modest target of 148, Royals had to endure some initial reverses, but Mohammad Kaif (34, 31b, 4x4) and Man-of-the-Match Yusuf Pathan (42, 18b, 5x4, 3x6) ensured the team won by six wickets with 21 balls to spare at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday.

The two also put on an 81-run unbroken partnership for the fifth wicket in just 40 balls. This association also improved the IPL record of 69 runs for the same wicket established by Shane Watson and Ravindra Jadeja against Kings XI Punjab.

Umar Gul’s inspired first over — the team’s sixth — put Knight Riders back in the game when he dismissed Sohail Tanvir (13) and Graeme Smith (24, 24b, 4x4).

Then Shane Watson was bowled by Ganguly for 19 (15b, 2x4, 1x6), but Kaif and Pathan made sure the ninth victory lifted the side into the semifinals.

Inspired bowling

Earlier, put in by Shane Warne, Knight Riders rode on small but useful contribution to reach 148 for eight in 20 overs against some inspired bowling by the Royals

Apart from Ganguly, contributions came from Salman Butt (24) and Debabrata Das (31).

Butt played a short but sweet innings of 24 (20b, 5x4). All his boundaries came off lovely cricketing shots, played along the ground and into gaps.

The loss of an early wicket in Mohammad Hafeez (4), taken by Swapnil Asnodkar off Munaf Patel’s first over, a wicket maiden, brought in Ganguly. Butt was by then in fine touch, driving and nudging to perfection. The two added 33 runs for the second wicket off 30 balls.

With Warne shuffling his bowlers, the next batsman David Hussey and Ganguly found the going rather tough yet added a run-a-ball 31 for the third wicket before the former (11, 15b, 2x4) was bowled by Pathan while trying to step out and clout the off-spinner.

In an attempt to raise the run rate, Ganguly attempted to hit Siddharth Trivedi over long-on and was taken by Kaif for a well-made 32 (34, 2x4, 1x6). He and Das had added 24 runs for the fourth wicket. New man Laxmi Ratan Shukla immediately made his presence felt with a hooked six off Trivedi.

Warne was confidence personified marshalling his resources superbly. His bowling changes were timely and effective. The bowling was accurate and to the field.

The scores:

Kolkata Knight Riders: S. Butt lbw b Patel 24, Md. Hafeez c Asnodkar b Patel 4, S. Ganguly c Kaif b Trivedi 32, D. Hussey b Pathan 11, D. Das b Tanvir 31, L.R. Shukla c Asnodkar b Tanvir 15, W. Saha (not out) 11, A. Agarkar (run out) 5, U. Gul c Kaif b Tanvir 7, I. Sharma (not out) 2; Extras (lb-2, w-3): 5. Total (for eight wkts. in 20 overs): 147.

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-40, 3-71, 4-95, 5-118, 6-123, 7-129, 8-142.

Rajasthan Royals bowling: Tanvir 4-0-26-3, Patel 4-1-22-2, Watson 4-0-36-0, Trivedi 3-0-26-1, Warne 3-0-21-0, Pathan 2-0-14-1.

Rajasthan Royals: G. Smith c Saha b Gul 24, S. Asnodkar c Saha b Sharma 5, S. Tanvir c Butt b Gul 13, Md. Kaif (not out) 34, S. Watson b Ganguly 19, Y. Pathan (not out) 48; Extras (lb-4, w-3): 7. Total (for four wkts. in 16.3 overs): 150.

Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-42, 3-42, 4-69.

Knight Riders bowling: Dinda 4-0-32-0, Sharma 3-0-23-1, Agarkar 3-0-30-0, Gul 3.3-1-30-2, Ganguly 2-0-24-1, Shukla 1-0-7-0.

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