Thu, 05 May 2011 - IP Kochi vs IP Kolkata, IPL 2011,45th Match - Bulletin

Win over Kolkata puts Kochi express back on track

Kochi did no harm to their reputation of being “giant-killers” by defeating mighty Kolkata by 17 runs at the Nehru Stadium. The win was made possible by the final over blitzkrieg by Brad Hodge and the solid knock by Captain Mahela Jayawardene, which got the home team to a competitive total of 156 runs. In reply, Kolkata had a solid start but lost their way in the second half of their batting innings to fall short of the target.

Kochi had a dismal home record so far but this time around they had the determination and grit to improve it and got a well deserved win that has breathed a new lease of life into their faltering campaign. Kochi have now climbed to number five on the points chart and hopes of making it to the next stage have been revived big time.

The target of 157 was never going to be out of Kolkata’s reach given their superlative batting full of some fearsome hitters, solid openers and brilliant finishers. The Kochi bowling, which essentially was an all-Indian attack, chose the right time to silence their critics by halting the dominating Kolkata batting.

The visitors once again persisted with Eoin Morgan at the top along with the dependable Kallis. Morgan has had a silent tournament so far, and it was likely that he may be replaced. But, he justified the faith of the team management notching up 66 runs in just 51 balls. Kallis was steady as usual and the visitors looked on course in the chase at the end of 10 overs with score reading 69 for no loss. A required rate of 9 per over shouldn’t have been trouble for Kolkata.

But, the Kochi bowlers had other ideas. Raiphi Gomez came out of nowhere and took out Kallis and Gambhir of successive deliveries to halt the Kolkata run scoring. As a result the required rate was increasing all the time. Though, Morgan tried to up the ante by hitting some good looking boundaries, Manoj Tiwary ate up 7 balls at a crucial stage. In came Yusuf Pathan, and Kolkata would have expected few minutes of madness from him to jump over the line, but that was not to be. Gomez and Prashant Parameswaran bowled two stifling overs when the charge was on, the fifteenth and sixteenth yielding just 9 runs.

Pathan and Morgan didn’t connect enough deliveries and in the end, the team were left to rue the bad last over bowled by Brett Lee to Brad Hodge.

His first over was a total contrast as it had more misses than hits. The juice in the pitch meant that Lee got the away swing going and beat Brendon McCullum with a couple of unplayable deliveries. This however was in total contrast to the earlier Kochi pitches which had up and down bounce, in the last match few balls went through to the keeper at ankle height.

McCullum tried to blast away in the next over targeting left armer Jaidev Unadkat, but chased a wide delivery only managing a bottom edge to Kallis, much to the jubilation of the young bowler.

Jayewardene hit a couple of gorgeous inside out shots at the beginning to set the tone for his innings. Parthiv Patel also chipped in with a breezy 21 and opener Michael Klinger combined with his captain to put a stabilizing 51 run partnership with his captain. The captain finishing with 55 priceless runs off just 41 balls.

Till the last over, Kochi looked set for a below par total before Brad Hodge took out all his anger for being demoted in the batting order on fellow Australian Brett Lee and clubbing him for a couple of huge sixes, Lee leaked 22 runs. That over ultimately proved to be the difference and Hodge deservingly won Man of the match.