Rain, Dhoni-led CSK disappoint Kolkata

KKR made one Ch(opr)ange to their playing eleven – Aakash made way for Debabrata Das.

CSK made a couple of Cha(mara)nges to their playing (Pat)eleven – Kapugedera and Joginder (Shar)made way for Parthiv and Makhaya Ntini, the player of the match.

On winning the toss, Sourav Ganguly, KKR’s skipper, chose to bat.

The first Powerplay of KKR’s innings – which was the mandatory Powerplay – was between the first and the sixth over. They scored 35, and lost a couple of wickets.

KKR’s openers had put on five when Mahendra Singh Dhoni, CSK’s skipper, left the field injured. Patel took over as the wicketkeeper.

Mohammad Hafeez scored half-a-dozen. His run-a-ball innings included a boundary. Fourteen balls into the match, he was caught by Manpreet Gony. Ntini broke the run-a-ball stand.

Ganguly, who faced eight balls, scored a couple. Sixteen balls later, Ntini broke the 14-run stand.

KKR scored 50 off 8.4 overs (53 balls). The number of extras they had conceded at that point gave CSK no reason to be in seventh heaven.

The third-wicket pair put on 50 off 41 balls. While Salman Butt’s contribution to the partnership was 28, Das’ contribution to it was 23. Extras’ contribution to the partnership was four.

Butt’s half-century – which included five boundaries and a six – came off 44 balls.

KKR scored 100 off 15 overs (91 balls). CSK had conceded 10 extras at that point.

Das, whose 32-ball innings included a boundary and a couple of sixes, eventually scored 27. Sixty-eight balls after Ganguly’s dismissal, Ntini broke the 86-run partnership.

The fourth-wicket pair failed to get off the mark. Hussey, who faced a ball, D(av)idn’t open his account. The next ball, he was dismissed by Ntini.

Butt, whose 54-ball innings included 10 boundaries, in addition to the six, eventually scored 73. Half-a-dozen balls later, he was trapped leg before wicket by Lakshmipathy Balaji, who broke the eight-run stand.

Laxmi Ratan Shukla, whose 11-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 13. He was unbeaten, as was Wriddhiman Saha, who scored 15. His nine-ball innings included a boundary.

CSK eventually conceded 13 extras. KKR scored 149 for the loss of five wickets off 20 overs.

Each of the five bowlers bowled four overs apiece.

Muttiah Muralitharan, Albie Morkel and Gony were wicketless. They conceded 41, 25, and 17, respectively.

Balaji conceded 36, picking up a wicket.

Ntini conceded 25, picking up four scalps.

Owing to rain, CSK’s target was revised to 55 off eight overs.

The first Powerplay of CSK’s innings – which was the mandatory Powerplay – was between the first and the sixth over. They scored 43, without the loss of a wicket.

CSK’s openers put on 50 off 7.2 overs (44 balls). KKR had conceded four extras at that point. In fact, that was the number of extras they eventually conceded. While Patel’s contribution to the partnership was 18, Stephen Fleming’s contribution to it was 28.

Eight overs into the chase, there was an interruption due to bad weather. CSK, whose openers scored 55, won by three runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method.

Each of the four bowlers bowled two wicketless overs apiece. Ishant Sharma conceded 16, Shoaib Akhtar and Ajit Agarkar conceded 14 apiece, and Ashok Dinda conceded 10.