Ravi Shastri: How do you feel about the victory, Sourav?
Saurav Ganguly (dazed): We won.
RS: And how does it feel?
SG: Hmm? We won. We won! Hahaha!
RS: One does get the feeling...
SG: Shut up, don't spoil it (takes shirt off)
I can think of one two very important phases in this match, that possibly indicated that KKR were on the 'inspired' side of the coin today, and not the 'crap' one.
The first phase was when they were batting, and Gayle wasn't getting the boundaries, Ganguly was. The old Ganguly, stepping out, backing away and hitting the ball through the offside - his perennial strengths. He dealt with The Great Ceiling (new Maharoof nick) very easily, and even hit Dictator Dan for three fours in an over. You won't hear this very often, but Ganguly was being the aggressor so that Gayle could find his rhythm.
They both got out soon after another, Gayle for 40 and Ganguly for 56, and B-Mac for a quickfire 6, but KKR still managed 181 (something they have been doing with no fuss) after some late mayhem from Manoj Tiwary and Angelo Mathews.
Then came the second key phase of the match - Ashok Dinda's first over of the innings. He bowled a succession of quick, skiddy dot balls at David Warner, finally hitting the stumps off the fifth ball to end Pitbull's misery. Considering the highly jumpy nature of his run-up, the skiddiness is pretty weird, but it works for him.
Some Viru-Gauti magic threatened to end the match early, but Ganguly was an old livewire on the field and he ran out the latter part of that duo with a direct hit. Sehwag blazed away a while longer, but his dismissal was the starting point of a middle-order collapse, with Sri Lankan rookie huntsman Mendis and leftie spinner Iqbal Abdulla in the thick of the action.
No one actually knows what KKR's chances of making the semis are, as they've settled into a comfortably unpredictable rhythm. If they win all their matches, they stand a good chance of qualifying for the semis, and in the words of Kurt Cobain, "Well, never mind."
They play BRC today.
0 comments:
New comments are not allowed.