Shakib al Hasan at last were able to show some batting instincts in the Indian Premier League yesterday as the Bangladesh allrounder remained unbeaten on 30 runs off 22 balls when his team Kolkata Knight Riders lost in a close tie to Delhi Daredevils by four wickets at the Dubai International Stadium.
Electing to bat, KKR posted a decent 166 for five, thanks to some brilliant batting by Robin Uthappa (55), Manish Pandey (48). Shakib came to the show at a crucial moment when they were struggling at 75/3 in 11 overs. He stayed in the crease till the last ball and gave his fellows compact companies with two boundaries and a mighty six.
On the other hand, JP Duminy hit a timely unbeaten 52 after skipper Dinesh Karthik set the foundation with a fighting 56-run knock to earn a four wickets victory for Delhi. Shakib bowled three overs where he conceded 25 runs without getting any wicket.
Delhi Daredevils batsmen responded to the challenge well and overhauled the target with three balls to spare.
Karthik batted superbly in the top order while Duminy finished it off in style with a six off Piyush Chawla.
Like KKR, Delhi too had to endure a bad start as Murali Vijay (0) was run out in the first over. Mayank Agrawal was off to a superb start as he hit some terrific shots but could not stay long at the crease as his short but entertaining 26-run knock was ended by Morne Morkel.
Delhi now needed 44 runs from five overs. Manoj Tiwary was removed by Morkel when the batsman went for a big shot but failed to clear the boundary fielder. Jimmy Neesham hit a huge six off Chawla and Duminy hit two sixes off country-mate Morkel to get close to the target.
DD required six runs off the last over, Chawla started well with a dot and wicket of Neesham in the second to make it interesting. Duminy sealed the fate of his side with a six off Chawla in the next ball.
In the first game of the day, Royal Challengers Bangalore humbled defending champions Mumbai Indians by seven wickets.
After restricting Mumbai Indians to a modest 115 for nine, RCB cantered to their second successive win in the tournament in 17.3 overs.
RCB though had a shaky start when left-handed opener Nic Maddinson was cleaned up by pacer Lasith Malinga for 16 and Zaheer Khan wreaked havoc in the very next over with two wickets.
The left-arm pacer sent skipper Virat Kohli for a duck and trapped Sharjah hero Yuvraj Singh lbw for nought in the space of three deliveries.
Wicketkeeper Aditya Tare though ruined Zaheer’s hat-trick chance when he dropped Yuvraj on the very next ball after Kohli’s dismissal.
But Mumbai’s cheer was shortlived as Parthiv Patel and AB de Villiers soon got a grip of the situation to stitch a 99-run unbeaten partnership.
Parthiv mixed the right dose of caution and aggression to score an unbeaten 57 off 45 deliveries. His innings was laced with seven boundaries.
De Villiers at the other end played the sheet-anchor’s role to perfection, making an unbeaten 48-ball 45 with the help of three fours and two sixes.
Earlier put into bat, Mumbai batsmen failed to counter the clinical bowling display by the Bangalore bowlers. The Mumbai openers started on a decent note but soon lost the plot against the RCB pacers.
South African pacer Albie Morkel drew first blood after scalping Mike Hussey for 16 in the 4th over of the innings.
Tare also couldn’t last long as pacer Varun Aaron induced a top-edge from the batsman which landed in the safe hands of Maddinson in the deep.
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal then bowled a magnificent spell to bag two quick wickets, giving away just 17 runs in his quota of 4 overs.
Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma (2) was a prized scalp for the Haryana tweaker and soon the big-hitting Kieron Pollard also fell to his guile.
Ambati Rayudu and Corey Anderson then tried to stem the rot, stitching together a 31-run fifth-wicket partnership, but Mitchell Starc sent the two batsmen back in the dug-out in his third over to choke MI.
Rayudu was caught at long off for a fighting 35 as De Villiers took his second catch while Anderson followed him soon after to give Starc a hat-trick chance.
The Australian left-arm pacer did not get the hat-trick but ended with impressive figures of 2/21.
Ashok Dinda joined the party when he packed Zaheer back for a duck and Mumbai slipped further.
Harbhajan Singh tried to counter attack with a boundary in his run-a-ball eight-run stay but Aaron soon picked his second wicket.
The win takes RCB into a position of strength very early into the tournament after their eight-wicket win against Delhi Daredevils in Sharjah while Mumbai certainly need to pull up their socks after their second successive loss.
Source: Dhaka Tribune