Deccan Chargers Vs Knight Riders: Deccan Chargers come out fully charged
A fine four wicket haul by pacer RP Singh set up Deccan Chargers to a comprehensive eight wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in their Indian Premier League campaign opener in Cape Town on Sunday.
RP Singh led a disciplined bowling attack of Deccan Chargers with figures of 4/22 to bundle out Kolkata Knight Riders for a miserable 101 in 19.4 overs after Knight Riders captain Brendon McCullum elected to bat.
Rohit Sharma and South African Herschelle Gibbs then hit sparkling unbeaten 43 and 36 respectively to hit off 104 for two in just 13.1 overs.
Captain Adam Gilchrist and VVS Laxman contributed 13 and 10 respectively as last edition’s bottom-placed team started their campaign in this season on a resounding note.
The Knight Riders, who were entangled in a captaincy controversy for weeks before the Twenty20 tournament, were completely outplayed by their Hyderabad-based rivals in all departments of the game.
Chasing a modest 102 at 5.1 runs per over, Deccan Chargers lost Gilchrist and VVS Laxman by the fifth over but Gibbs and Rohit ensured that they start the IPL second season on a winning note by sharing an unbroken 69-run stand for the third wicket.
Gibbs’ 26-ball 43 included five fours and a six. He also hit the winning runs by smashing a four off Moises Henriques to win the match in style.
Rohit, one of the top Chargers batsmen last year, was also fluent in his 32-ball innings of 36 which was studded with three fours and two sixes.
Rudra was well supported by Scott Styris (2/32) and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha (2/14) who chipped in with two wickets each. Opening bowler Fidel Edwards bowled with a lot of pace and accuracy and conceded just six runs from his allotted four overs though without success.
Australian Brad Hodge top-scored with 31 for Knight Riders while three other batsmen – Chris Gayle (10), Aakash Chopra (11) and Murali Kartik (not out 10) — could reach double figures.
Electing to bat, KKR had a disastrous start with their openers captain Brendon McCullum and Gayle returning to the hut by the fourth over with just 12 runs on the board, both victims of RP Singh. From there on they never recovered.
McCullum had a faint touch of RP Singh’s first ball of the innings by his glove and was caught by his opposite number Adam Gilchrist behind the wicket for just one.
One down Sourav Ganguly was expected to let the willow speak following all that captaincy controversy but the former India skipper’s vigil at the crease lasted just 12 balls and yielded just one run before perishing on 16-3.
Deccan bowlers tied down the strong KKR batting line-up to just 31 runs at the halfway mark for three wickets.
Tags: Aakash Chopra, Brad Hodge, Brendon McCullum, Cape Town, Chris Gayle, Gibbs, Hershchelle Gibbs, IPL 2, IPL 2009 News, IPL South Africa, Ipl T20, Knight Riders, Knight Riders Vs Deccan Chargers, Kolkata Knight riders, Laxman, Ojha, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Rudra, Shah Rukh Khan, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman
