Kolkata Knights fend off the Charge of the Deccans

Kolkata, Kolkata... don't worry Kolkata; hum hain tumhare Kolkata. KKR were in a must win situation, as Varun had pointed out in his pre-match update, and this song would probably have been going through the entire team's mind. The Korbo-lorbo-jeetbo spirit had to come to the fore, and where else but in their home town. Dada started doing the right thing by first winning the toss, then electing to bat, and then going on to show why "On the off-side, first there is God, then there is Ganguly". With some good starts but no conversions, Ganguly was itching to get into the groove, and today he came good finally.

A total of 181, even with a batting depth consisting of Gilchrist, Gibbs, Symonds & Rohit Sharma was always a tall ask, and with the Kolkata crowd solidly behind their team, the Deccan Chargers' initial charge was completely subdued the minute they lost Gibbs & Sharma in quick succession. Till then they were ahead of the asking rate, and post then, they were just left searching for answers against a disciplined bowling spell by the KKR bowlers.

If you ask me, DC lost the match when KKR reached that total. Not that such a total has not been reached or chased in Kolkata, and not that DC did not have it in them, but quite frankly, I fail to understand why they are playing Roach instead of Vaas, who, the way he is conceding runs, seems to be a gift for the opposition. Why on Earth would you rest your best bowler, who's been grabbing early breaks for you and has decent economy, for crucial matches? Probably DC underestimated KKR and have paid heavily.

As regards us Cricketcetera Masters, this was a unique game in many respects. It was the 30th game of the league - exact mid-point. It was a game that saw many strategies from various teams, and as many as 3 MoMs being shown faith in (it was tough choice from all those 3, and Varun & Manish correctly picked the cherry). It was also unique in the sense that as many as 8 players chosen by various Masters did not feature in the final 11.

Lloyd took easy top honours, with I and Varun slugging it out for 2nd & 3rd respectively. Manish & Ramnik had a keen contest for 4th & 5th. Adrian & Mohit took rear guard at 6th & 7th.

The most unique aspect of this game was the final standings. 3 of us (yes 3 of us!!!) - Ramnik, Manish & I have exactly the same MPs (136 each) at the top of the table. This sure is a hotly contested league. Incidentally, our earnings from top 2 appearances are also exactly the same!!! Whew! Could it get any closer than this mid-way. Tells me that we're in for a big fight in the remaining half of the contest.

Varun occupies the middle position at 4th with 124 points, with Lloyd at 115, Mohit at 106 and Adrian at 90. They all will be yearning to make some reversals over the next 30 matches, and I won't be surprised if we have a completely new leader at the end of the championship.

Attach the scoresheet at the end of the match, and my best wishes to all for the balance half of the insanity.

© Shailesh Nigam, Varun Khanna (for respective articles)