Kolkata: Deccan Chargers continued their downward spiral, losing their third successive game on the bounce even as Kolkata Knight Riders got back to their winning ways with a vital 24-run win. The Chargers fell short of reaching 182 despite having Andrew Symonds on the crease for most part of the end overs.
The Aussie couldn’t come up with the required big hits as Shane Bond bowled four dot balls in the 19th over to virtually seal the game in favour of Deccan. The Chargers ended up requiring 34 runs off the final over – a task that proved to be impossible. Knight Riders notched their fourth win against the Chargers in India.
Requiring more than nine an over, the Chargers began like a house on fire, with Herschelle Gibbs (50) and Adam Gilchrist, knocking the ball around with consummate ease. After smashing two of Ajit Agarkar’s deliveries to the boundary, the Deccan skipper got one wrong and holed out at square-leg.
The Chargers innings never really went into second gear from then on as they surrendered meekly in the end.
After winning the toss, Ganguly opted to bat and dada made it a point that the Knight Riders were off to a good start. Kemar Roach knew his fate after his very first ball raced off to the square-leg boundary off Ganguly’s bat.
But the initial fireworks dimmed after Symonds dismissed Chris Gayle early on. Cheteshwar Pujara and Manoj Tiwary came and went without making any impact.
But Sourav Ganguly’s presence was more than enough to keep the Eden Gardens crowd alive. And he didn’t disappoint them, playing the spinners with typical disdain - Pragyan Ojha was the worst hit by Ganguly’s onslaught.
The youngster, however, got his own back to a certain extent, when Ganguly mistimed one after scoring an awe-inspiring 88. David Hussey provided the final over fireworks for the Knight Riders as they set the Chargers a challenging target of 182.
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