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Both Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders came into this 10th Match of IPL T20 season 2 with one loss each in their belt. Both of them are owned by Bollywood stars in the form of Shilpa Shetty and Shahrukh Khan respectively. Both of them had one more thing in common in IPL 2 which is that both teams had one of their matches affected by rain. While Rajasthan Royals last match was a rain washout, Kolkata Knight Riders won their last match on D/L method. In today’s match, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Brendon McCullum won the toss and put Rajasthan Royals to bat. Rajasthan Royals’ batting did not impress enough and they managed only 150/6 in their 20 overs with a 42 off 21 balls from Yusuf Pathan. Kolkata had two of its main batsmen firing with Chris Gayle (41 off 33 balls) and Sourav Ganguly (46 off 30 balls) playing quite well. The match was the most interesting match of IPL 2 bettering the previous Super Kings vs Delhi Daredevils match of the day. The whole Kolkata Knight Riders innings was favorite both the sides at different positions. Even in the last over, Knight Riders needed just 7 off 6 balls. But in the second last ball, Sourav Ganguly got out and it became 2 needed from 1 ball. Then Ishant Sharma got run out in the last ball but he had already run the first run and so the match was a tie. Then came the first Super Over of IPL season 2 to decide the match outcome. In the first Super Over, Kolkata Knight Riders took the bat while Rajasthan Royals took the ball. The batting responsibility for the Kolkata Knight Riders were taken by Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum and Sourav Ganguly while new rookie Kamran Khan was trusted by Warne for the over. Kamran Khan also bowled the crucial last over of the Knight Rider innings which resulted in the Super Over. Through Chris Gayle hit a few boundaries but Kamran bowled a good line and KKR managed only 15 runs in their Super Over. Then the Rajasthan Royals Super Over came where Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja and Dimitri Mascarenhas were chosen to take the batting responsibility by Warne while Kolkata Knight Riders gave the bowling to Sri Lankan medium pacer Ajantha Mendis. Yusuf Pathan hit the first ball for a 6 setting the momentum for the Royals. He took 2 runs from the next ball and then again hit a huge 6 from the following delivery. Chasing the 16 runs target set by KKR for the Super Over, Yusuf Pathan hit 4 runs off the fourth ball making their Super Over tally to 18 runs and surpassing the target easily. From the Rajasthan Royals squad, Kamran Khan took 3/18 while Shane Warne took 2/25. Yusuf Pathan was declared the Man of the Match for his blistering knocks during the Rajasthan Royals innings as well as the Super Over.

Full Scorecard

Rajasthan Royals

Batsmen Status Runs Balls 4s 6s S.Rate
Graeme Smith c Chris Gayle b Ajantha Mendis 15 21 1 0 71.43
Paul Valthaty c Ishant Sharma b Anureet Singh 5 7 1 0 71.43
Rob Quiney c Chris Gayle b Ishant Sharma 6 2 0 1 300
Yusuf Pathan c Yashpal Singh b Ajantha Mendis 42 21 6 2 200
Ravindra Jadeja c Yashpal Singh b Ishant Sharma 22 26 0 0 84.62
Dimitri Mascarenhas b Anureet Singh 27 28 2 0 96.43
Abhishek Raut not out 21 13 1 2 161.54
Shane Warne (C) not out 2 2 0 0 100
Mahesh Rawat (W)
Munaf Patel
Kamran Khan
Extras: b – 0, w – 7, nb – 0, lb – 3 10
Total: (150 for 6 wickets in 20.0 overs) 150 Run Rate: 7.5

Fall of Wickets1-8 (Paul Valthaty, 2), 2-14 (Rob Quiney, 2.2), 3-70 (Graeme Smith, 8.1), 4-73 (Yusuf Pathan, 9), 5-112 (Ravindra Jadeja, 16.2), 6-125 (Dimitri Mascarenhas, 18)

Bowling (Kolkata)Bowler O M R W nb wd R/O
Ishant Sharma 4 0 36 2 0 0 9
Anureet Singh 4 0 35 2 0 2 8.75
Ajit Agarkar 1 0 14 0 0 1 14
Ajantha Mendis 4 0 19 2 0 1 4.75
Sourav Ganguly 3 0 23 0 0 0 7.67
Chris Gayle 4 0 20 0 0 2 5

Power Play
Power Play 1 Overs: 1-6

Kolkata Knight Riders

Batsmen Status Runs Balls 4s 6s S.Rate
Chris Gayle c Ravindra Jadeja b Shane Warne 41 33 2 4 124.24
Brendon McCullum (C) (W) c Kamran Khan b Dimitri Mascarenhas 3 9 0 0 33.33
Laxmi Shukla c Mahesh Rawat b Kamran Khan 13 13 1 0 100
Brad Hodge c Mahesh Rawat b Munaf Patel 5 7 0 0 71.43
Sourav Ganguly c Mahesh Rawat b Kamran Khan 46 30 4 2 153.33
Sanjay Bangar c Graeme Smith b Kamran Khan 2 9 0 0 22.22
Yashpal Singh c Abhishek Raut b Shane Warne 20 18 3 0 111.11
Ajit Agarkar not out 1 1 0 0 100
Ishant Sharma run out (Kamran Khan) 1 1 0 0 100
Anureet Singh
Ajantha Mendis
Extras: b – 0, w – 9, nb – 1, lb – 8 18
Total: (150 for 8 wickets in 20.0 overs) 150 Run Rate: 7.5

Fall of Wickets1-25 (Brendon McCullum, 4), 2-60 (Chris Gayle, 8.2), 3-67 (Laxmi Shukla, 9.5), 4-71 (Brad Hodge, 10.5), 5-94 (Sanjay Bangar, 14), 6-143 (Yashpal Singh, 18.5), 7-149 (Sourav Ganguly, 19.5), 8-150 (Ishant Sharma, 20)

Bowling (Jaipur)Bowler O M R W nb wd R/O
Yusuf Pathan 4 0 27 0 0 4 6.75
Dimitri Mascarenhas 4 1 29 1 0 0 7.25
Shane Warne 4 0 25 2 0 2 6.25
Kamran Khan 4 0 18 3 0 3 4.5
Munaf Patel 3 0 36 1 1 0 12
Ravindra Jadeja 1 0 7 0 0 0 7

Power Play
Power Play 1 Overs: 1-6

Ricky Ponting thinks that there is some merit in John Buchanan’s theory of multiple captains for Kolkata Knight Riders. Buchanan had created a huge controversy a few days ago by suggesting that there would be several captains in the KKR IPL team. But later on he mellowed down his tone and said that there will be only one captain and four strategists. However, this was quick shocking for the Indian masses especially the people of West Bengal as they cannot see Sourav Ganguly sharing his captaincy with others. It received opposition from several quarters in the cricket fraternity but there were some takers too. Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakarra said that he was open to such an idea. Now the latest one to join the club is Australian captain Ricky Ponting who thinks there is some merit in Buchanan’s theory. Notably Buchanan was also the coach of the Aussie team during their World Cup win in 2007. Ponting also said that multiple captains would reduce the work load of captaincy and might help enhance the team performance. But he also said that a strategist would be more suitable because multiple captains cannot decide field placements easily.

It is also noteworthy that Ricky Ponting is a member of the Kolkata Knight Riders team but will not play IPL T20 season 2 as he has decided to spend some time with his family during the two weeks in which he is available. Let us wait and see how the multi-strategists theory works out.

Bollywood and Hollywood stars will attend the opening ceremony of the second season of IPL T20 if reports are to be believed. Hollywood actors Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman are likely to grace the opening ceremony on April 18 at Newlands alongside IPL franchise owners and Bollywood stars Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty. Last year’s runner-up Chennai Super Kings will play the opening match against Mumbai Indians while IPL season 1 winner Rajasthan Royals will take the challenge of Bangalore Royal Challengers in the second match subsequently on the same venue.

The match tickets for the opening for the opening matches will go on sale from April 3 and it has been kept modest and in terms with the 2007 ICC T20 Cricket World Cup. The tickets will start from Rand 50 for children, Rand 100 for a grass ticket and upto Rand 200 for a seat (1 South African Rand ~ 5.5 Indian National Rupees). According to Stadium Authorities, there is major interest amongst the public for the matches and so the ticket prices have been kept affordable.

To increase the maximum occupancy of stadiums the IPL schedule has been organized in such a way that the maximum amount of matches are played in Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg which are cities with the largest Indian population. Out of the 56 games to be played in IPL T20 season 2, 33 games has been staged in these three venues.

Let us wait for the next two weeks to see if the South African people likes the mix dose of cricket, Bollywood, Hollywood and cheerleaders. But going by the way the organizers are working on the event, it might become a success this year too.