By Parvathy Gopalakrishnan
There could’ve been no better start to the fourth edition of the IPL, sans a certain Lalit Modi. A revamped and a brand new spirited Knight Riders took on the confident defending champions CSK, and a what a cracker of a match this turned out to be. Lady Luck fully to his aide, MS won the toss, and batting first was an easy choice.
Springing up surprises has never been alien to Dhoni, and in another one of such moves, Anirudha Srikkanth was sent to open the innings with Murali Vijay, who perished very early. Raina and Anirudha gave the innings a much needed consolidation, with Anirudha letting loose occasionally. The KKR fielding looked decent until Pathan senior suddenly started playing butter fingers, dropping two catches. First he dropped Anirudha off his own bowling, and if that wasn’t enough, he dropped Raina this time at mid-on.
While the Superkings hit the occasional boundaries, what worked for them was that they kept the scoreboard ticking. The going looked pretty smooth for CSK until the 10th over, after which Raina (33 off 29) was dropped again by Morgan at mid-wicket before Delhi lad Sarabjit Ladda scooped one to get rid of him in the 11th over.
KKR managed to keep the Dhoni-Anirudha duo quiet for a while post the strategic time out, but that did not stop Srikkanth junior from getting to his half century. And then it was enough of singles and mature batting. It was time to up the ante, and Anirudha did exactly that. While Dhoni stood and delivered, Anirudha belted one over mid-wicket for another six.
Dhoni gloved one to Bisla after he was surprised by some extra bounce off Kallis’ bowling. The 18th and 19th over being quite economical, the final over changed the script for the Super Kings. While Anirudha (65 off 55) perished in a weird manner, Styris and Morkel took the innings ahead with a flurry of boundaries, Kallis conceding 16 runs in the last over.
Requiring 154 to start off the outing on a good note, Kallis and Bisla took charge of the KKR innings. Bashi squeezed one through the gap between mid-off and extra cover, while Kallis also opened his account with a boundary. The fourth over turned to be productive with Kallis opening the full face of the bat to send one crashing to the boundary, and then pulling another one to the fence.
As Bisla fell to Jakati, Yusuf Pathan walked into the middle hoping to set things right. That was not the case to be, as Dhoni produced a marvelous piece of fielding to get rid of him. Kallis continued calmlly on the other end, reaching yet another 50, but before long, he too departed, scooping one to fine leg off off Ashwin’s bowling. Morgan was the next man in, who was undone thanks to some fine glove-work by Dhoni.
Gambhir finally walked into the middle and played a blink-and-miss innings. A huge tactical error this, to come lower down the order. Laxmiratan Shukla and Manoj Tiwary played gritty camoes, the 19th over witnessing two sixes, and a boundary.
The last over and KKR needed 9 to win. After taking a couple, Shukla fell on the third ball. With 7 required from 4 deliveries, Iqbal Abbdullah walked in, and stole two runs. 5 off 3. Shah Rukh and his son egging the team on. Missed run out chance, and more importantly, a dot ball. 5 off 2. Single taken. 4 off 1. Single. Match over. KKR outplayed. Period.
Dhoni steered his team to yet another victory. While the Super Kings were already brimming with confidence, this victory has given them a clear psychological advantage. The man who stole the show, however, was Anirudha Srikkanth, who played a gem of an innings, to prove to the world that he’s not an ordinary son of an extraordinary father!
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