Er, looks like I forgot to sign off. Anyway, that was a thriller, the best match of the season so far. I’m off to OBO the next one. Cheers for reading, bye.
Knight Riders win by one wicket
19.5 overs: KKR 184-9 (Narine 0, U Yadav 0) That would have been a wide, had Chawla left it. This one hits Narine on the pad. It goes to leg slip, they take the leg-bye and the throw misses the stumps!
Wicket! Chawla c Saha b A Singh 18
19.4 overs: KKR 183-9 (U Yadav 0) 1 needed Drama! It’s down the leg side, Chawla looks to flick it down to fine leg and he’s just flicked it through to the keeper!
19.3 overs: KKR 183-8 (Chawla 18, Yadav 0) 1 needed Six! In the slot and Chawla lifts it sweetly over long on to level the scores.
Wicket! Hogg run out 5
19.2 overs: KKR 177-8 (Chawla 12) 7 needed A great yorker. There’s no run on but Hogg has come haring down the track. He turns around but Anureet fields off his own bowling, takes a moment to aim, and throws down the stumps.
Updated
19.1 overs: KKR 177-7 (Chawla 12, Hogg 5) 7 needed Anureet Singh is being given the final over, which is a risk given that he’s gone for 16.33 an over so far. Hogg on strike and the bowler gets a hand on his clump back down the ground, keeping them to one.
19 overs: KKR 176-7 (Chawla 12, Hogg 4) 8 needed A full toss outside off, Hogg goes hard at it but can only pick out the man at cover. One taken as we head into the final over.
18.5 overs: KKR 175-7 (Chawla 12, Hogg 3) 9 needed Driven hard through extra cover, but there’s a fielder there to keep them to one.
18.4 overs: KKR 174-7 (Chawla 11, Hogg 3) 10 needed Pushed down the ground for one more.
18.3 overs: KKR 173-7 (Chawla 11, Hogg 2) 11 needed Pushed down to long on by Chawla. Miller fumbles it and they’re through for a comfortable single.
18.2 overs: KKR 172-7 (Chawla 10, Hogg 2) 12 needed Full outside off and it’s a dot.
18.1 overs: KKR 172-7 (Chawla 10, Hogg 2) 12 needed Hogg on strike first against Sandeep Sharma. A wide full toss, bunted to mid off for one.
18th over: KKR 171-7 (Chawla 10, Hogg 1) target 184 Hendricks is on and it’s tight stuff. That builds the pressure and that’s enough to do for Botha as he sets off for a suicidal single. Just three singles from the first four balls, then Chawla ramps one high and down to third man for four! Last ball and it’s carved over backward point for four more! We’re going ball-by-ball.
Wicket! Botha run out 2
Botha pushes to Axar Patel at mid-off, thinks he can take him on, but can’t. The direct hit sees him a couple of feet short.
17th over: KKR 160-6 (Chawla 1, Botha 2) target 184 Russell gets his half century, but really shouldn’t. He mistimes a swish at a full delivery, hitting straight up in the air, but the ball lands between three converging fielders at mid-off. That’s the joint-fastest 50 in the competition this season, level with Harbhajan Singh. An exchange of singles later he’s gone though! Another twist in this match, with all the recognised batsmen back in the hutch?
Wicket! Russell c Saha b A Patel 51
Looking to hammer the cut through point, the ball bounces a fraction more than Russell predicted and he feathers a top edge through to the keeper.
16th over: KKR 155-5 (Russell 49, Botha 0) target 184 Anureet with a slow, waist high full toss on Russell’s hips from round the wicket. That’s utter filth and is rightly flicked over fine leg for six. A single, then a leg-bye taken by Botha, then another full toss is clumped hard through mid on for four. Anureet comes back over the record, but sends down another full toss that gets launched into the stands at long on again! The last ball gets pummelled down the ground for one. This is some hitting – 29 needed from 24 now.
15th over: KKR 136-5 (Russell 31, Botha 0) target 184 “There must be some kind of way (of getting these two) out of here,” said the captain to his fast bowler. Back comes Hendricks and Russell pummels the living hell out a short, wide one, through point for four. A single later he sends down a slower bouncer to Pathan and the batsman waits on it nicely before just guiding it round the corner to fine leg for four. But he’s gone next ball!
Updated
Wicket! Y Pathan c Saha b Hendricks 29
Yusuf rocks back and tries to just ramp a bouncer over the keeper’s head, but he can only feather a catch behind.
14th over: KKR 126-4 (Russell 26, Y Pathan 24) target 184 Now it’s Yusuf’s turn to cut loose as he smashes a full, floaty delivery from Axar straight back down the ground for six. Two balls later it’s a similar ball, slightly wider outside off and it’s thumped over long off for six more. He follows this with a dab to cover that’s so delicate it’s almost satire. Full, slow and straight again to Russell and this over is carnage: it’s back over his head for six more. A wide down the leg side, so he’ll have to bowl the final one again. Tossing the ball up to these two is almost beautifully naive. He goes wider, Russell has a swish and edges it down to third man for four. 43 off 21 for these two now, including 24 off that over.
Updated
13th over: KKR 102-4 (Russell 16, Y Pathan 11) target 184 Back to seam with Anureet Singh. Russell tries to drive a full one down the ground and gets a thickish edge, down to fine third man for four. Then we cut away for an interview with the ground’s chief curator. He seems like an affable, pleasant, elderly gentleman, but I’m not convinced we need to hear his explanation that they cover the pitch when it rains. While we’re away, Russell top edges a hook over fine leg for four, then violently marmalises the next one over mid wicket for as hard a flat six as you’ll see. 16 off the over and that’s more like it from KKR.
Updated
12th over: KKR 86-4 (Russell 1, Y Pathan 10) target 184 Axar is back into the attack. Yusuf is looking to be aggressive, but he can’t get hold of it and is only able to clump a single down to long on. That Yadav wicket looks stupider every time they replay it. Russell pushes to extra cover for another one and that over has gone for just two. The pressure builds.
Updated
11th over: KKR 84-4 (Russell 0, Y Pathan 9) target 184 Kolkata need 11 an over from here. It’s not an impossible ask as there’s plenty of big hitting to come. Yusuf launches Gurkureet over mid on, hitting with the spin for a huge six. Christ he really is an intimidating man to look at, isn’t he? The same can be said of his new partner – Andre Russell coming in for the dearly departed Yadav. The first ball to him is a big leg side wide, but that turned a hell of a long way.
Updated
Wicket! S Yadav b G Singh 9
Ugh. Yadav steps across to off, looking to shovel a full toss over his shoulder. He misses it and the ball flops into his stumps.
10th over: KKR 74-3 (S Yadav 8, Y Pathan 1) target 184 With the Royals in a purple haze, Hendricks returns to the attack. He begins with three dots to Yusuf, who gets off the mark by chopping down to third man for one. Yadav then picks the slower ball half volley and slashes it over long off for four, the ball bouncing just inside the rope and the bat twisting slightly in his hand.
Updated
9th over: KKR 69-3 (S Yadav 4, Y Pathan 0) target 184 The Knight Riders began needing 9.2 an over and did bring that down to a fraction over eight. Now it’s pushing 10, thanks to the strangulation by spin we’ve seen so often at this ground. Of course it’s normally KKR who are doing the strangling. Gambhir’s wicket means that Yadav and the new man Yusuf Pathan have a job on their hands.
Updated
Wicket! Gambhir c Vijay b Gurkeerat 24
Gambhir’s eyes light up at a short one, he goes on to the back foot and cuts, but mistimes it woefully in the air to mid-off.
8th over: KKR 66-2 (S Yadav 2, Gambhir 23) target 184 Into the attack comes Maxwell. He finally got some runs today, but his form with the ball could do with an upturn in form with the ball too. The wicket will help. The IPL might want to consider finding a sponsor for Slog Caught On The Long On Bounday, thinking about. Suryakumar Yadav is the new batsman.
Updated
Wicket! Pandey c A Patel b Maxwell 22
Pandey goes, slogging from wide outside off stump, hitting it flat and hard straight to long on.
7th over: KKR 61-1 (Pandey 21, Gambhir 22) target 184 At the end of that last over Axar tossed the ball back to the keeper and Gambhir had to raise his bat to shield himself from being hit on the head. Anyway, another man I’ve not seen bowl yet is Gurkeerat Singh, the offie. Gambhir looks to drive him up and over extra cover and doesn’t get hold of it, but it drops short of the fielder and they get a single. A wide and another single, then Pandey chips inches wide of the bowler, almost offering a return catch. After a fast start, the Knight Riders have scored just six from the last two overs.
Updated
6th over: KKR 57-1 (Pandey 19, Gambhir 20) target 184 Spin for the first time in the innings, with Axar Patel on to bowl his left armer orthodox stuff. He’s getting spin from the off, turning one beautifully past Pandey’s outside edge. There’s also an appeal for LBW agains Gambhir, but this time it actually has pitched outside leg.
Updated
5th over: KKR 55-1 (Pandey 18, Gambhir 19) target 184 More brilliant timing from Pandey as he guides Sharma’s third ball perfectly through extra cover for four. A wide, then Pandey gets four more with a similar shot, the timing perhaps even better this time. This is a cracking start. The last ball is straighter, perhaps on middle and off, and Pandey picks it up, lifting it over midwicket for a third boundary of the over.
Updated
4th over: KKR 40-1 (Pandey 5, Gambhir 18) Anureet Singh on to bowl and Uthappa gets a thick inside edge past a misfield at backward square leg for two. Ooh and a lovely cover drive brings four; wide and overpitched and and Uthappa leans into it and pushes through cover. That’s the end of his fun though. Pandey is the new batsman and he times his first ball perfectly off the back foot through cover point for four. That’s an outstanding shot first up. A single gives Gambhir the strike for the last ball and my word that’s some timing! It’s guided off his hips and slowly, torturously makes its way to the rope at midwicket for four.
Wicket! Uthappa c A Patel b A Singh 17
A wicket from nowhere. I think this one stuck in the pitch a touch and it’s mistimed off the back foot and just chipped to mid on. Don’t think he meant to hit that in the air.
3rd over: KKR 25-0 (Uthappa 11, Gambhir 14) Sandeep again and his half volley, angled across the batsman, is driven up and over extra cover for four more. A single down to third man brings Uthappa on strike and he clubs a short, wide, tasty piece of junk to long on for another boundary. One more run, a push to extra cover, makes 10 from the over.
2nd over: KKR 15-0 (Uthappa 6, Gambhir 9) target 184 The replays show that Gambhir should have gone there, plumb LBW. We’re getting our firs look now at the left-arm South African T20 international Beuran Hendricks. Uthappa runs one down to third man for one. He tries a bouncer to Gambhir, but it lacks pace and bounce, and thus gets flicked around the corner from rib-height for four. Another pull to fine leg for a single, then he’s too straight to Uthappa and it’s four more to long leg.
1st over: KKR 5-0 (Uthappa 1, Gambhir 4) target 184 Sandeep Sharma, the shining light in the Kings XI attack so far, will open to Gambhir. No Johnson remember. His first ball nips back into the right hander a long way off the seam, passing between bat and pad. It’s a little curious that Botha was picked ahead of ten Doeschate, given that he only bowled the one over. Uthappa off the mark with a sharp, scrappy single cut to cover. Gambhir then gets four from his first ball, which is too straight and flicked off the hips to fine leg. They go up for LBW from the final ball of the over, but it’s adjudged to have pitched outside leg. Not sure about that.
Time for the chase.
An email! “Not everyone’s idea of fun is the same as yours,” writes Rohit Singh. “Danny is much appreciated in these parts.”
Glad to hear you’re enjoying my OBO. What? Oh. Oh! Good god.
That’s a very good total for Kings XI. It’s above par and will be very tough to chase on this pitch, which is only going to get slower. See you in a few for the chase.
End of innings
20th over: Kings XI 183-5 (Bailey 0, Miller 27) Russell it is and he starts with a juicy half volley that Miller smashes flat over long off for six. That’s the first boundary since Saha went. A bottom edged pull for one, then Gurkeerat goes. The batsmen crossed, so Miller is on strike, and he smashes a juciy leg stump half volley over mid on for six. The next ball is the bouncer and Miller hooks it over fine leg for a one-bounce four. Good over this. Miller is on strike for the final ball and he guides it perfectly through point for four more.
Wicket! G Singh c & b Russell 4
A really good bouncer from Russell, who tucks the batsman up. He goes for the hook over fine leg but only succeeds in hitting it high in the air. Russell takes the catch.
19th over: Kings XI 162-4 (G Singh 4, Miller 6) It’ll be Yadav with over 19 and presumably Russell with the next. It’s yorker after yorker after, er, wide, after yorker. Miller manages to dig out the third legal delivery for two, but other than that it’s just scrambled ones. Off the last ball, Miller tries to smash it but the ball hits too high on the bat and it just bobbles out to long off.
18th over: Kings XI 153-4 (G Singh 2, Miller 1) It’s Hogg again and there’s a big appeal when he hits Miller on the front pad with the wrong’un. It’s hit him well outside off, though. They scamper through for a leg-bye – the third run off the over – then Gurkeerat Singh, the new man in the side, is beaten all ends up by another googly. A full toss to finish the over, but the batsman misses out with a wild slog and they can only get one.
17th over: Kings XI 149-4 (G Singh 0, Miller 0) Narine, who has been the Knight Riders’ best bowler today, comes back on with 2-11 from his first three overs. He adds a third wicket with the third ball of this over and Maxwell is gone for 43 from 22 balls, with four fours and three sixes. Miller comes in ahead of Bailey late in the day. He’ll be at the non striker’s end and Saha absolutely whacks the leather off the next ball, clearing mid on. He’s gone next ball though!
Wicket! Saha b Narine 33
Down on one knee, Saha goes for the big slog sweep, doesn’t connect and the off break crashes into the stumps.
Wicket! Maxwell c Botha b Narine 43
Maxwell goes after one that’s slightly short but not short enough. His wild pull is top-edged and Botha takes it comfortably on the mid wicket boundary rope.
16th over: Kings XI 141-2 (Saha 26, Maxwell 42) This has been an excellent partnership for Kings XI; they’ve done what so many have failed to achieve and dominated the spinners. Yadavi is on and Saha belts his second ball down towards mid-off, where Botha dives to his right and gets a hand to the ball, but puts it down. It would have been a brilliant catch, but that’s six drops now. As ever, the next ball is turned round the corner for four by Maxwell, a leg stump full toss. Danny Morrison then dons a turban and fake beard and starts dancing around, twirling his fake moustache. Seriously, that’s happening.
15th over: Kings XI 134-2 (Saha 25, Maxwell 36) Hogg v Maxwell could be fun. First blood to he of the silver hammer as he stands still and times it nicely over the top and down to long on for four. Another boundary next ball as he reverse sweeps the wrong’un very fine. Shorter, and it’s a massive hit over midwicket. I knew we shouldn’t have made fun of him before the match. The next ball is a googly too, but much better disguised and Uthappa whips the bails off in a flash after it beats the batsman, but Maxwell gets his foot back in time. Another reverse sweep brings one, before Saha slogs a full toss into the stands for six more.
“This over looks like a phone number!” screams Morrison.
“Four, four six... must be a small country,” says the other bloke in the box.
“Middle Earth! Middle Earth!” explodes Danny.
+44 is Britain, Danny.
Updated
14th over: Kings XI 113-2 (Saha 19, Maxwell 22) Saha tries the slog sweep. He doesn’t really get hold of it, but the single the take raises the hundred. Maxwell then does the same, before Saha swishes and gets a thick inside edge down to leg slip for one more. This is horrible batting. Maxwell’s next shot is better, a delicate reverse sweep over backward point for four. Down the track next for a straight six when Chawla tosses it up in the slot. Chawla took 4-32 with his four overs in the last match; he has 0-35 from three here.
13th over: Kings XI 99-2 (Saha 17, Maxwell 10) Russell comes back and concedes a leg bye, three singles, a wide and then six over mid on off the last ball. Some idiot off the telly is sat up with the scorers and gets the stadium PA to read out the score mid-over, while hugging him and waxing on about how brilliant he is. The look that the poor announcer gives him is gloriously withering.
12th over: Kings XI 88-2 (Saha 15, Maxwell 3) Chawla again, after a relatively expensive first over, and his first two balls are both cut for two runs apiece. The second of those only allowed two because of a fumble by Russell, who then gives Uthappa an earful for standing around having a chat at cover rather than standing up to the stumps. That allows an extra run. A single, then Maxwell drives for two more past, sigh, as misfield at extra cover.
11th over: Kings XI 78-2 (Saha 8, Maxwell 0) Back comes Narine. A big shout for LBW from the keeper second ball, but Narine isn’t interested, having seen that it’s come off the glove. Then finally a catch does stick, before Maxwell survives a decent enough LBW appeal off the last ball.
Wicket! Vohra c & b Narine 39
Vohra rocks back and drives hard back to the bowler, who takes a simple catch.
10th over: Kings XI 75-1 (Saha 6, Vohra 38) Your fourth spinner of the day will be Piyush Chawla, who was outstanding in the win over Delhi Daredevils on Thursday. After Saha sweeps away for one, Vohra goes for the big hit and gets a hefty inside edge down to short fine leg for one. A top edge sweep then looks to be racing down to fine leg for four, but Yadav dives excellently to flip it back in from the rope and save one. They’re not saving anything next ball though, as Vohra drives over extra cover for six.
9th over: Kings XI 64-1 (Saha 2, Vohra 31) Hogg continues. His first ball brings a leg bye to leg slip, where some sluggish fielding allows a quick single. Then a wide is given for a leg-side ball, off which they run a leg bye. Not sure about that, given it came off the batsman’s boot. One more knocked away by Vohra, then Saha swings hard to deep square leg for another. Time for a time out.
Updated
8th over: Kings XI 59-1 (Saha 1, Vohra 30) Russell is into the attack and what do you know, it’s another drop! A bouncer that Vohra looks to ramp over the keeper’s head, he can only feather it through to Uthappa, who jumps but allows it to bounce out of his glove, going for it one-handed above his head. That should have been taken. Two to Vohra for that and two more next ball for a lofted drive over extra cover. Two balls later it’s another bouncer but this one is hooked sweetly over mid-wicket for six. That was a lovely bit of timing. A slower ball, a leading edge and up it goes towards Yusuf Pathan who turns, gets under it and... drops it! That’s five now.
7th over: Kings XI 48-1 (Saha 1, Vohra 19) That was Kings XI’s best opening stand of the season, I believe. Hogg is into the attack and he shouts for LBW against Vohra: it pitched outside the right-handers leg-stump and was always turning further down. Not a lot going for that one. Vohra misses the googly next and Uthappa whips the bails off, but the batsman managed to slide his foot back in plenty of time. Ugh, horrible ball as Hogg drags it down, getting his release point wrong, but the batsman can only punch it off the back foot over mid off for one. Just three from the over.
6th over: Kings XI 45-1 (Saha 0, Vohra 17) Another drop! This is ridiculous. Vijay steps across to off and sweeps straight to the fielder at short fine leg. It’s the easiest catch so far, but the fielder wears it on the chest and juggles it, before grassing the ball. The next ball, inevitably, slips away off the top edge for four down to third man. Narine, I guess, has to do it himself and bowls Vijay with the fifth ball of the over, bringing Wriddhiman Saha to the crease.
Wicket! Vijay b Narine 28
Vijay steps across to off and looks to paddle it over fine leg, but misses the ball and it clips his leg stump.
5th over: Kings XI 42-0 (Vijay 24, Vohra 17) Spin from both ends as Botha comes on. The first five balls are pleasantly binary, 1-0-1-0-1, before Vohra goes and ruins everything with a lofted drive over long off for six. That’s the 500th six of this season. Bloody hell.
4th over: Kings XI 32-0 (Vijay 22, Vohra 10) After that last over of seam went for 18, it might be an idea to try something new. Namely the spin of Sunil Narine. Vohra comes down the pitch to him, but mishits his lofted drive down to long on for one. Three singles from the first four balls are followed by an appeal for LBW against Vijay, but it’s probably turning down leg. Another drop from the final ball as Vijay pulls hard to Hogg, who spills it diving to his right at square leg.
3rd over: Kings XI 28-0 (Vijay 20, Vohra 8) The first ball of the over is far too straight to Vijay and he clips it from knee-height, behind square leg for four. Two balls later Yadav is too short and he gets larruped up, over cover point for six. Four more turned round the corner next ball – Yadav’s length has been too short today. A dot, then a nicely timed on drive from the last ball brings four more.
2nd over: Kings XI 10-0 (Vijay 2, Vohra 8) It’ll be Andre Russell from the other end. Vohra flicks his first ball very nicely through mid-on, but there’s a man in the deep to keep them to one run. Then a drop as Vijay drives uppishly to mid off, but Gambhir can only get a hand to it high above his head. Should have gone with two hands. Danny Morrison – and I hate to say this – makes the very correct point that, while we’ve seen some amazing catches in this competition, there has been a lot of dross too and that inconsistency is to the detriment of the competition. After taking a couple more to wide mid off, Vohra gets tucked up by a bumper but manages to awkwardly steer it round the corner for four.
1st over: Kings XI 2-0 (Vijay 1, Vohra 1) With Sehwag dropped, it’s Vijay and Vohra to open; Umesh Yadav with the new ball. Vijay is underway first ball, after a moment’s hesitation, with a single to short midwicket. Vohra is beaten all ends up with a lovely ball that seams away a fraction and flies past the outside edge. It looks like a good batting pitch out there, very dry and the ball should come on to the bat nicely. A single down to third man and that’s yer lot for the over.
Here come the players. No Johnson for Kings XI.
@DanLucas86 More cold hard facts: Glenn Maxwell's #IPL8 bowling economy rate (11.2 rpo) is higher than his batting average (~10.7)
— Chris Deeley (@ThatChris1209) May 9, 2015
Kolkata Knight Riders: RV Uthappa†, G Gambhir*, MK Pandey, SA Yadav, YK Pathan, AD Russell, J Botha, PP Chawla, SP Narine, GB Hogg, UT Yadav
Kings XI Punjab: M Vijay, M Vohra, WP Saha†, GJ Maxwell, DA Miller, GJ Bailey*, Gurkeerat Singh, AR Patel, BE Hendricks,Anureet Singh, Sandeep Sharma
Toss and team news
Kings XI win the toss and will bat. Beuran Hendricks and Gurkeerat Mann come in, no word of who for yet. The Knight Riders are unchanged.
Preamble
Morning folks. You know what’s a great movie? This one:
No, don’t watch the whole thing. The only issue I have with Commando is the main villain, Bennett. At no point are you ever convinced that this ludicrously, brilliantly camp, moustachioed bad guy has a hope in hell of winning his final fight, or even hurting John Matrix (Arnold Schwarznegger) (Yes, he is called John Matrix; no I didn’t have to look that up).
Today’s match reminds me of the moments preceding the final fight in Commando. The Knight Riders, the only one of these two sides with anything to play for, should be able to let off some steam against hapless Kings XI Punjab.
George Bailey’s team have been crap. Utter, unmitigated crap. Here’s what Cricinfo says, dealing in cold hard facts:
None of their batsmen occupy the top 15 of the run-getters list. Glenn Maxwell has batted seven times and scored all of 75 runs. Only one of their bowlers has an economy rate below eight an over. Mitchell Johnson has conceded 9.37 runs an over, and has taken nine wickets at 37.33. They have lost their last five matches, and they needed a Super Over to pull off their last win, on April 21.
Rock bottom and heading to fortress Kolkata, they have next to no chance. Especially since the Knight Riders can go a long way to securing their play-off spot. This may be a repeat of last year’s final, but, in terms of what’s resting on it and the quality of one of the protagonists, it couldn’t be less similar.
Play begins at 11.30am, or 4pm Indian time. Toss and team news imminently, but in the meantime... well, you’ve got the whole of bloody Commando there!
