Here are the highlights of the first match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkatta Knight Riders. A complete rout thanks to an unbeaten 158 from Brendon McCullum. A spectacular batting effort by the Kiwi wicket-keeper led to one of the biggest defeats in Twenty20 cricket.
Highlights
After the win in the Twenty20 World Cup, a lot of credit and accolades have gone to the players and the support staff. Fair enough. But shouldn’t the real credit go to the BCCI and it’s selectors for actually choosing this bunch of youngsters and making a brave decision of sending Dhoni as the captain in a major tournament.
The decision would have been made even more difficult after Sachin, Saurav and Dravid refused to be considered for this edition of the World Cup. Not only did the selectors have to find out replacements, but to also ensure that the youngsters would be committed to one goal only - to perform way above expectations.
The very fact that nobody had any expectations is what stunned me in the first place. Here is Team India, looking to play in a major world tournament, and nobody was giving them a chance. Thank god almighty, that the team proved everyone wrong, even a red-faced Ravi Shastri at the semi-final presentation ceremony.
Just winning the Twenty20 World Cup was more than enough for each member of the Indian squad to be awarded tons of hard cash. On top of the $490,000 prize money from the Twenty20 World cup here is what I have found so far:
The first match of the Super Eight ended in a close finish, with the Daniel Vettori led Kiwis winning by 10 runs. And did he lead, by god. The man has grown a lot in cricket, and it was all evident as he wound a magical spell around the top Indian batsmen known to be the best players of spin. More on that later.
New Zealand lost the toss and were asked to bat first. The Indian bowlers did a terrific job to restrict the Kiwis from exploding as the wickets kept on falling at regular intervals. At 91-5 only Craig McMillan and Jacob Oram were the recognised batsmen left. And did they make the Indians pay? The last 5 overs cost 78 runs. McMillan smashed 44 from only 23 balls and Oram got 35 from 15. New Zealand ended up with 190 runs where they should have not got more than 160. For India, Harbhajan Singh was the best bowler as his 4 overs cost only 24 runs and he picked up 2 wickets. The most expensive bowlers were RP Singh (4-0-29-2), Sreesanth (3-0-37-1), Yuvraj Singh (3-0-38-1) and Ajit Agarkar (4-0-40-0).
What a match! Nerve-wracking right till the last over. Frustrating and joyful at the same time if you are an Indian fan. I, for one, did not believe that India would go an and win after being down 5 wickets and still requiring 83 runs from 58 balls. But the youth brigade held on to their nerves and in a cool, icy, tone won the match for India which they never should have won after conceding 30 runs off the last over with five consecutive sixes. Yes, you heard me correct, if you did not watch England’s innings you have missed out on something spectacular. Dimitry Mascerenhas smashed Yuvraj Singh for 5 straight sixes in the 50th over of the English innings. More on that later.
Paul Collingwood won the toss for the second time in a row and this time he decided to bat first on a flat surface that was going to help the spinners in the second innings. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Dravid and his men. Zaheer Khan was charged up and got one to move just enough for the ball to get the outside edge of Alastair Cook. England were 0-1. India could sense that if they snag a couple more wickets early on, they could put England on the backfoot.
Loading ...People would rather spend money [going to] a Test match than a Twenty20.
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