Rajasthan grab an easy win against Kolkata

Zeecric Bureau Ahmedabad: Kolkata Knight Riders’ batsmen clearly seemed out of form as Rajasthan Royals sealed an easy 34-run victory at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Stadium here on Saturday. Call it excellent fielding by Rajasthan Royals or poor batting by Kolkata Knight Riders, the second innings of the game seemed very one-sided as Sourav Ganguly and his men found it very difficult to chase a not-so-humongous target of 169 runs. After winning the toss, Rajasthan skipper Shane Warne decided to bat first. Their campaign, however, did not start on an exciting note either as their entire batting order kept on demolishing slowly and steadily throughout the match with none of the batsmen being able to add a solid score to team’s total. They lost their opener Michael Lumb for a duck at the first ball of the match itself, and then Faiz Fazal (31) at the end of the fifth over. Fazal’s innings had given some stability to his team’s batting campaign after Lumb’s dismissal, but his feat was also cut short.A couple of overs later, Murali Karthik’s prompt actions run-out Naman Ojha for 27 runs, resulting in the third wicket loss for Rajasthan Royals. It was then when all hopeful eyes turned to Yusuf Pathan, who too failed to impress. Yusuf had only started to settle himself on the crease when Brad Hodge caught him at the deep square off Ashok Dinda’s delivery. After this series fall of wickets, Abhishek Jhujhunwala (45) and Adam Voges (37) helped Rajasthan make a good comeback in the late overs, helping them to post a modest total of 168/7. However, this target too proved detrimental for Kolkata. Since the very beginning, none of the batsmen played an innings strong and sparkling enough to take Kolkata anywhere near to the target.Kolkata’s target-chase started at a very sluggish note as both the openers clearly struggled for form. Manoj Tiwary (11), primarily, was dismissed very early in the game. After his dismissal, Pujara (29) and Brad Hodge (36) tried to take Kolkata closer to their target, but Pujara’s departure put a halt to that partnership as well. Even skipper Sourav Ganguly (33) couldn’t add much luster to his game and towards the end, each shot just looked like a desperate attempt to reach the target, rather than a well calculated skillful effort. Yusuf Pathan, though failed to help with the bat, did impress with the ball as he took fundamental wickets of Tiwary and Hodge, further helping Rajasthan to demoralize Kolkata. All in all, the desire to register an win this season was evident in Rajasthan’s body-language, they did it! Teams: Rajasthan Royals: Michael Lumb, Naman Ojha(w), Abhishek Jhunjunwala, Adam Voges, Yusuf Pathan, Faiz Fazal, Paras Dogra, Shane Warne(c), Munaf Patel, Siddharth Trivedi, Shaun Tait Kolkata Knight Riders: Brad Hodge, Manoj Tiwary, Sourav Ganguly(c), Cheteshwar Pujara, Owais Shah, Angelo Mathews, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Murali Kartik, Ishant Sharma, Shane Bond, Ashok Dinda