Gomez Stars as Tuskers Down Knight Riders

Cricinfo: Kochi Tuskers Kerala 156 for 5 (Jayawardene 55, Unadkat 2-25) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 139 for 7 (Morgan 66, Gomez 2-14 by 17 runs

 

A disciplined performance in the field and an explosive 35 off 19 balls from Brad Hodge helped Kochi Tuskers overcome Kolkata Knight Riders in the last match at the Nehru Stadium this IPL season.

Hodge's last over blitz, in which he took 21 runs off countryman Brett Lee, proved to be the difference between the two sides, as Kochi defended 156 by 17 runs. In the chase, RP Singh and Sreesanth failed to get the same kind of movement that Brett Lee extracted early in the Kochi innings. Jacques Kallis and Eoin Morgan didn't have to take many risks early on as there were many poor deliveries that were smacked to the boundary. In the first three overs, the bulk of the short and wide ones came from RP Singh.

R Vinay Kumar and Prasanth Parameswaran pulled back the chase before it raged out of control with a selection of back of a length deliveries that proved difficult to get away. Although they kept the boundaries down, they didn't trouble the batsmen much and failed to get a breakthrough until after the halfway stage, when Kolkata were well set. Kallis was the senior partner and easily outscored Morgan in that phase. Seven times in the first ten overs Kallis stole the strike at the end of the over.

Just as Kallis looked as though he had grown roots, Raiphi Gomez rattled Kolkata with a double strike in his second over. He bowled Kallis with a legcutter and had Gautam Gambhir caught in the covers off consecutive balls, which left Morgan to assume the senior role. Manoj Tiwary could not last long, and Yusuf Pathan was expected to counterattack, but he and Morgan were frustrated by Gomez's variations and Parameswaran's accurate fuller deliveries.

Sreesanth let the noose loosen, giving Morgan back-to-back boundaries but Vinay Kumar was on hand to tighten it. Confusions between Morgan and Yusuf mounted in Vinay's last over, and Morgan was run out when both batsmen ended up at the wicketkeeper's end.

It brought Brett Lee to the crease, in poetic justice for the last over he bowled, which went for 21. There were 25 to get off the last over of Kolkata's innings. Lee was run-out and the task proved too steep.

Kochi's innings was anchored by a third-wicket partnership between Mahela Jayawardene and Michael Klinger before being given momentum at the death by Hodge. It didn't look as though Kochi would get over the 150-run mark, especially after the way things started. Lee's first over was a whole bag of peaches. He got impressive away movement and started the innings with a maiden.

Some success seemed inevitable after the start Kolkata got and it came from Jaidev Unadkat, although he hardly deserved it. He banged one in, too short and too wide outside off that Brendon McCullum chased and his fine edge nestled in Kallis' hands at slip.

Parthiv Patel came in at No. 3 and opened his account with two stunning boundaries. He looked energetic and confident in his strokeplay and dealt with Unadkat's bouncer and the introduction of spin, in the form of Iqbal Abdulla, with relative ease. Surprisingly, it was the short ball that undid him, when he charged down the track and miscued a pull shot to midwicket.

The stage was set for Jayawardene to play an innings of authority and, with Klinger at the other end, he did exactly that. They played creative cricket, managing a boundary off five of the seven overs they were together for and pushed each other to take singles before Klinger holed out. When Abdulla got the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja for eight, Kochi were being pegged back and some impetus was needed.

The floodgates were opened with Jayawardene's six over long leg at the start of the 17th over and Kochi put on 54 runs in the final four overs, with Hodge's fireworks yielding almost half of those.

	Kochi Tuskers Kerala innings (20 overs maximum)		R	B	4s	6s	SR
	BB McCullum	c Kallis b Unadkat	1	8	0	0	12.50
	1.4 tame dismissal, short and wide and McCullum slashes at it, there isn't much pace in Unadkat so it doesn't fly away, lands safely in the palms of Jacques Kallis at slip 6/1
	M Klinger	c Iqbal Abdulla b Pathan	29	26	3	0	111.53
	11.5 Klinger holes out, Abdulla's right at the edge of the ropes at deep midwicket, it's tossed up and Klinger accepted the invitation, came down the track and launch it high and handsome but couldn't clear the ropes as Abdulla judged it to perfection and kept his balance to take it inches inside the boundary 81/3
	PA Patel†	c Bhatia b Unadkat	21	16	4	0	131.25
	5.2 Rajat Bhatia holds his nerve to take a good catch, Unadkat dropped short and Parthiv appeared to have made his mind up. He's thrown his wicket away here, came down the track and again tried to swing it over midwicket, miscued it and Bhatia ran back a few paces and clasped it close to his chest on the third attempt 30/2
	DPMD Jayawardene*	run out (Ladda/Kallis)	55	41	2	2	134.14
	18.6 Kallis to Hodge, run-out, pitched up and Hodge strikes it clean over the bowler's head but there is protection, long-off runs across, picks it up and returns a good throw to the non-striker's end as Mahela runs back for the second, Kallis collects and takes down the stumps to find him short despite the dive. It seemed as though it was his forearm that made contact with the stumps but he had the ball in his hand, so that's fine. 134/5
	RA Jadeja	c Pathan b Bhatia	8	11	1	0	72.72
	14.4 not the slower one, bowled at normal pace, came onto Jadeja a little quicker, he had shaped up for the slog-sweep and couldn't connect well, got a top edge and Yusuf made no mistake standing at square leg 96/4
	BJ Hodge	not out	35	19	3	2	184.21
	RV Gomez	not out	1	1	0	0	100.00
	Extras	(lb 1, w 3, nb 2)	6
	Total	(5 wickets; 20 overs)	156	(7.80 runs per over)

Did not bat R Vinay Kumar, RP Singh, S Sreesanth, P Parameswaran

Fall of wickets1-6 (McCullum, 1.4 ov), 2-30 (Patel, 5.2 ov), 3-81 (Klinger, 11.5 ov), 4-96 (Jadeja, 14.4 ov), 5-134 (Jayawardene, 18.6 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	B Lee	4	1	42	0	10.50	(1nb)
	JD Unadkat	4	0	25	2	6.25	(1w)
	1.4 to McCullum, tame dismissal, short and wide and McCullum slashes at it, there isn't much pace in Unadkat so it doesn't fly away, lands safely in the palms of Jacques Kallis at slip 6/1 5.2 to Patel, Rajat Bhatia holds his nerve to take a good catch, Unadkat dropped short and Parthiv appeared to have made his mind up. He's thrown his wicket away here, came down the track and again tried to swing it over midwicket, miscued it and Bhatia ran back a few paces and clasped it close to his chest on the third attempt 30/2
	Iqbal Abdulla	2	0	16	0	8.00
	JH Kallis	3	0	21	0	7.00	(1w)
	S Ladda	1	0	13	0	13.00	(1nb)
	R Bhatia	3	0	22	1	7.33
	14.4 to Jadeja, not the slower one, bowled at normal pace, came onto Jadeja a little quicker, he had shaped up for the slog-sweep and couldn't connect well, got a top edge and Yusuf made no mistake standing at square leg 96/4
	YK Pathan	3	0	16	1	5.33	(1w)
	11.5 to Klinger, Klinger holes out, Abdulla's right at the edge of the ropes at deep midwicket, it's tossed up and Klinger accepted the invitation, came down the track and launch it high and handsome but couldn't clear the ropes as Abdulla judged it to perfection and kept his balance to take it inches inside the boundary 81/3

	Kolkata Knight Riders innings (target: 157 runs from 20 overs)		R	B	4s	6s	SR
	JH Kallis	b Gomez	45	41	5	0	109.75
	10.2 bowled'im! Was the slower legcutter, Kallis drove at that inside the line, tried to play it past extra cover, it cut away to beat the bat and peg back the off stump, a timely breakthrough for Kochi 69/1
	EJG Morgan	run out (†Patel/Vinay Kumar)	66	51	8	2	129.41
	18.4 from Vinay Kumar, run-out, another good delivery from Vinay, low full toss that Morgan couldn't do much against, gets to the keeper as he misses it on the swing and Yusuf has already run down the pitch to take strike next ball, by the time Morgan realises that it's too late and he sacrifices his wicket as Parthiv returns the ball to the bowler 132/4
	G Gambhir*	c Jayawardene b Gomez	0	1	0	0	0.00
	10.3 gone first ball! The tide is turning, good length and Gambhir stepped away to play his favourite shot first ball, made room to clear extra cover but couldn't get the elevation he needed, played it straight into the hands of Mahela, Gomez is on a hat-trick 69/2
	MK Tiwary	c McCullum b Vinay Kumar	1	7	0	0	14.28
	13.6 Tiwary has succumed, short ball on the off and he went for the pull, came off the bottom of the bat and McCullum at midwicket took it easily 97/3
	YK Pathan	c Jayawardene b Vinay Kumar	17	13	2	0	130.76
	18.5 Yusuf goes and it lookes beyond them now, full outside off and it's smashed hard but straight to Mahela who is positioned perfectly at extra cover, just inside the circle 132/5
	MV Boucher†	b Singh	5	4	0	0	125.00
	19.6 bowled'im, Kochi finish on a high as RP sends back Boucher who swings wildly but finds his off stump pegged back 139/7
	B Lee	run out (Jadeja/†Patel)	1	2	0	0	50.00
	19.4 from Singh, pitched up to Lee, he drives it wide of long-off for a couple of runs, there's an appeal for a run-out but the throw was a wide one. Parthiv dived to take off the bails and it was enough to find Lee short, if only marginally. It is a run-out. 138/6
	R Bhatia	not out	1	1	0	0	100.00
	Extras	(lb 1, w 2)	3
	Total	(7 wickets; 20 overs)	139	(6.95 runs per over)

Did not bat Iqbal Abdulla, S Ladda, JD Unadkat

Fall of wickets1-69 (Kallis, 10.2 ov), 2-69 (Gambhir, 10.3 ov), 3-97 (Tiwary, 13.6 ov), 4-132 (Morgan, 18.4 ov), 5-132 (Pathan, 18.5 ov), 6-138 (Lee, 19.4 ov), 7-139 (Boucher, 19.6 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	RP Singh	4	0	44	1	11.00	(1w)
	19.6 to Boucher, bowled'im, Kochi finish on a high as RP sends back Boucher who swings wildly but finds his off stump pegged back 139/7
	S Sreesanth	3	0	24	0	8.00	(1w)
	R Vinay Kumar	4	0	28	2	7.00
	13.6 to Tiwary, Tiwary has succumed, short ball on the off and he went for the pull, came off the bottom of the bat and McCullum at midwicket took it easily 97/3 18.5 to Pathan, Yusuf goes and it lookes beyond them now, full outside off and it's smashed hard but straight to Mahela who is positioned perfectly at extra cover, just inside the circle 132/5
	P Parameswaran	4	0	21	0	5.25
	RV Gomez	4	1	14	2	3.50
	10.2 to Kallis, bowled'im! Was the slower legcutter, Kallis drove at that inside the line, tried to play it past extra cover, it cut away to beat the bat and peg back the off stump, a timely breakthrough for Kochi 69/1 10.3 to Gambhir, gone first ball! The tide is turning, good length and Gambhir stepped away to play his favourite shot first ball, made room to clear extra cover but couldn't get the elevation he needed, played it straight into the hands of Mahela, Gomez is on a hat-trick 69/2
	RA Jadeja	1	0	7	0	7.00

Match details

Toss Kolkata Knight Riders, who chose to field Points Kochi Tuskers Kerala 2, Kolkata Knight Riders 0

Player of the match BJ Hodge (Kochi Tuskers Kerala)

Umpires S Ravi and RJ Tucker (Australia) TV umpire SK Tarapore Match referee D Govindjee (South Africa) Reserve umpire KN Ananthapadmanabhan

Match notes

Kochi Tuskers Kerala innings Powerplay 1: Overs 0.1 - 6.0 (Mandatory - 35 runs, 2 wickets) Kochi Tuskers Kerala: 50 runs in 7.4 overs (47 balls), Extras 2 3rd Wicket: 50 runs in 38 balls (M Klinger 22, DPMD Jayawardene 27, Ex 1) Kochi Tuskers Kerala: 100 runs in 15.3 overs (94 balls), Extras 3 DPMD Jayawardene: 50 off 38 balls (2 x 4, 2 x 6) Kochi Tuskers Kerala: 150 runs in 19.4 overs (120 balls), Extras 6 Innings Break: Kochi Tuskers Kerala - 156/5 in 20.0 overs (BJ Hodge 35, RV Gomez 1) Kolkata Knight Riders innings Powerplay 1: Overs 0.1 - 6.0 (Mandatory - 43 runs, 0 wicket) Kolkata Knight Riders: 50 runs in 6.6 overs (42 balls), Extras 2 1st Wicket: 50 runs in 42 balls (JH Kallis 32, EJG Morgan 16, Ex 2) Kolkata Knight Riders: 100 runs in 14.5 overs (89 balls), Extras 3 EJG Morgan: 50 off 39 balls (7 x 4, 1 x 6)

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Giant-killers Kochi Tuskers - Another Exciting Win over Kolkata Knight Riders

Kochi Tuskers Kerala 132 for 7 (Jadeja 29, Jayawardene 25, Yusuf 3-20, Shakib 3-28) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 126 for 9 (M Tiwary 46, RP 2-25, Jadeja 2-25) by six runs

Kochi Tuskers Kerala won a battle of attrition against Kolkata Knight Riders on a slow Eden Gardens pitch that aided the spinners, defending a modest total by six runs, their third win on the trot and one that took them to third position on the points table. The wicket was expected to have played better than the low-and-slow one turned out for the game against Rajasthan Royals. It did not play as low, but was as slow, making it difficult for batsmen and a delight for the spinners.

After Yusuf Pathan and Shakib Al Hasan had taken six wickets for 48 runs between them to restrict Kochi to 132, Kolkata's powerful batting line-up would have fancied the modest chase. But Kochi had three spinners themselves, in Muttiah Muralitharan, Ramesh Powar and Ravindra Jadeja. The trio did not take as many wickets as the Kolkata spinners had, but stifled the runs nevertheless as the pressure got to the Kolkata batsmen.

Ironically, in a game dominated by spin, what hurt Kolkata in the end was that they lost wickets to the fast bowlers at the start, and Kochi did not. The first three overs from the Kolkata fast bowlers had gone for 26 without any wicket, the first four from the Kochi seamers went for only 20, and produced two big wickets, that of Jacques Kallis and Gautam Gambhir.

CricInfo..

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