Rajasthan Royals RULZ
Jaipur: Till David Hussey and Sourav Ganguly were at the crease, win looked a possibility for the Kolkata Knight Riders, a distant one, but a chance all the same. Ganguly’s dismissal changed all that, as the rest of the six batsmen collapsed for less than 30 runs, as KKR collapsed to 151 chasing Rajasthan Royal’s 196.
Earlier, under very hot conditions, Shane Warne won the toss and elected to bat first. Unknown face Asnodkar hit a majestic 60, and Yusuf Pathan continued his form with a hard hitting 55 off 33, to take the RR team to 196 in 20 overs. Umar Gul did pick up 3 wickets in his four overs, but the rest of the bowlers - bar Ishant Sharma - did not rise to the occasion and allowed the batsmen to get on top.
With this loss, Kolkata Knight Riders have only two wins from five matches, where as RR are at eight points in 5.
Fearless hitting
Meawhile, Asnodkar, with a reputation for fearless hitting on the Indian domestic circuit, began with a top-edged four off Dinda. It was the beginning of a remarkable and exhilarating 53-minute IPL debut for Asnodkar.
He smashed Sharma straight down the ground, pulled Ajit Agarkar’s first ball for a six and proceeded to show what a short man like him can do to a ball. Asnodkar hammered ten fours and one six, a back foot stroke through point off Agarkar being the highpoint.
Giving him able company was Yusuf Pathan. Their manner of batting was almost the same, their ideas and execution free and airy. There was no grappling with theory. Asnodkar’s footwork was quick enough to lift the ball over the inner ring.
In between, Mohammad Kaif played a cameo that sustained pressure on the fielding side.
The scores: Rajasthan Royals: G. Smith b Ishant 2, S. Asnodkar c Hussey b Gul 60, M. Kaif c & b Agarkar 21, Yusuf Pathan b Gul 55, S. Watson lbw b Gul 0, R. Jadeja b Shukla 33, S. Warne (run out) 7, S. Tanvir (not out) 3, M. Rawat (not out) 1; Extras: (b-1, lb-6, nb-4, w-3) 14; Total: (for 7 wkts in 20 overs) 196.
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-53, 3-106,4-111,5-168,6-190, 7-192.
Kolkata Knight Riders bowling: Dinda 4-0-30-0, Ishant 4-0-26-1, Agarkar 4-0-46-1, Gul 4-0-31-3, Hussey 2-0-26-0, Ganguly 1-0-14-0, Shukla 1-0-16-1.
Kolkata Knight Riders: S. Butt b Tanvir 7, S. Ganguly c Kaif b Warne 51, A. Agarkar c Rawat b Watson 20, B. Hodge (run out) 1, D. Hussey b Trivedi 42, L.R. Shukla (run out) 2, D. Das c Watson b Tanvir 11, W. Saha b Trivedi 1, U. Gul (run out) 2, Ishant (not out) 1, A. Dinda c sub b Watson 1; Extras: (b-3, lb-2, w-7) 12; Total: (in 19.1 overs) 151.
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-44, 3-51, 4-119, 5-121, 6-143, 7-145, 8-147, 9-151.
Rajasthan Royals bowling: Watson 3.1-0-22-2, Tanvir 4-0-30-2, Trivedi 4-0-31-2, Patel 4-0-29-0, Warne 2-0-20-1, Yusuf 2-0-14-0.
