Ganguly misses ton, leads team to victory

Hyderabad Deccan Chargers faced yet another loss as they went down against Kolkata Knight Riders by 23 runs in Match 32 of the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad today.

Led by stand-in skipper Adam Gilchrist in the absence of regular captain VVS Laxman, the Hyderabad team was not able to profit from a late charge by lower middle-order batsman Venugopal Rao’s unbeaten contribution of 71 runs. This was the seventh successive defeat for the side.

For Kolkata Knight Riders, captain Sourav Ganguly’s superb 91 off 57 balls and David Hussey’s 57 off 29 balls steered their side to set up a target of 205 runs for the hosts.

However, the Chargers’ innings terminated at 181 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. Despite a valiant effort by Rao whose knock included four boundaries and six sixes, Hyderabad never seemed to be in the game as it kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Ashok Dinda took the wickets of openers Adam Gilchrist (24) and Herschelle Gibbs (4) whiled D Ravi Teja (10) was claimed by Umar Gul. New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris fell to Ganguly’s attack, consequently reducing the Chargers to 63 for 4.

Rohit Sharma and Sanjay Bangar too could not extend their stay at the crease. As a result, Rao could not find consistent assistance from the other end.

Earlier, Ganguly had won the toss and opted to bat. Kolkata looked to be in a spot of bother when it lost the wicket of Salman Butt in the very first over. But handy partnerships prevented any further disasters.

Ganguly and Aakash Chopra (24) put up a 69-run partnership. And even after the latter’s departure, Ganguly continued to shine. The elegant left-hander put on a 102-run stand with David Hussey for the third wicket.

However, Ganguly was caught by RP Singh at fine leg off P Vijaykumar falling short of a maiden Twenty20 century by nine runs. Tatenda Taibu returned to the pavilion after scoring a paltry 9 runs but the Knight Riders eventually ended up with a big total of 204/4. Hussey and Laxmi Shukla (14) remained unbeaten.

Sourav Ganguly picked his second successive Player of the Match award, this time for his excellent display with the bat.

Kolkata Knight Riders now has eight points in the kitty after the win and will face Delhi Daredevils on Tuesday at the Eden Gardens.