Mumbai: Last Sunday, when the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) clashed with the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Eden Gardens, it turned out to be a thrilling affair with the Sachin Tendulkar-led side snatching the honours from right under Gautam Gambhir’s nose.
On Wednesday, as the teams squared up again, this time in the crucial IPL-IV eliminator, an almost similar situation arose and the Mumbai Indians, once again, had the last laugh. They won by four wickets as they chased down the Knights’ 147, with four balls to spare.
The win now enhances the Mumbai side’s IPL record against the Knights to a dictating 7:1.
Much was said about the Knights’ determination to extract revenge in the knockout tie. In reality, they once again let the opportunity go begging as they failed to perform under pressure.
The Knights, who scored a modest 147 for seven, looked like making a comeback as they were able to reduce the home team to 133 for six after the opening pair of Aiden Blizzard (51) and Sachin Tendulkar (36) put on 81 runs in 7.5 overs.
Seven runs were needed from the last over with James Franklin and Harbhajan Singh at the crease. Skipper Gambhir, after much consultation with teammates, preferred to hand over the ball to Shakib-al-Hasan instead of Lakshmipathy Balaji, who infamously gave away 23 runs in the final over at the Eden.
The Bangladesh captain could hardly make an impact as Harbhajan Singh (11 not out) finished off the contest in Ambati Rayudu-style with a six over the mid-wicket off the second ball. He then raised his hands and rushed to his teammates to celebrate the fine victory. Franklin (29 not out) once again played the key role by managing to hold one end with great determination.
Mumbai Indians will now play the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday in Chennai for a place in the final.
Nothing went right for KKR on Wednesday night. First they batted poorly and then gave away too many runs in the early overs to lose the battle. On the other hand, MI did everything correctly.
MI’s decision to include Blizzard and man of the match Munaf Patel proved to be wonderful tactical moves as both the players contributed to the victory. While Patel captured three wickets, Blizzard, who opened with Tendulkar, scored 51 in only 30 balls to finish off the KKR challenge.
With Tendulkar on song, Gambhir and company had no chance to defend 147. The first over of MI innings produced 14 runs and they were 62 for no loss at the end of the sixth over. The visitors tried with four bowlers — Brett Lee, Iqbal Abdulla, Yusuf Pathan and Rajat Bhatia — during this period but none could make an impact on any of the openers.
Tendulkar was on attacking mode in the fifth over when he slammed four consecutive boundaries off Pathan. Two of them beat the square-leg boundary fielder easily while the other two reached the rope through mid-off and short fine-leg. The master may have scored only 36 but he was simply a treat to watch. Blizzard and Tendulkar took the match away from their rivals even though they lost wickets at regular intervals thereafter.
But then, it was poor batting by KKR that made all the difference. Put to bat, they had the most disastrous start in the tournament. With the entire top order going back to the pavilion even before the first six overs were completed, KKR could do little to offer a challenging total. That they still could manage to reach 147 for seven was mainly because of Dutch batsman Ryan ten Doeschate who played a brilliant knock of unbeaten 70. Pathan (26) and Shakib (26) chipped in to take KKR to a respective total.
There was a time when it was feared that Knights might not reach the three figure mark. The change in opening combination hardly did any good as Jacques Kallis found himself back to the pavilion in the second over while skipper Gautam Gambhir, who preferred to open, fell in the next over. As Sreevats Goswami, too, was out without scoring, KKR were tottering at 15 for three at one point of time. Credit should go to Doeschate and Pathan for being able to stem the rot to some extent. From 20 four, the duo added 60 runs for the fifth wicket in 39 deliveries to consolidate the innings.
Doeschate looked the sole fighter on the burning deck. The Dutch was never considered a regular in the star studded side but on Wednesday, he seemed determined to prove a point. Faced with aggressive bowling and quality fielding, Doeschate remained unperturbed.
