Photo Courtesy - http://www.iplt20.comMarch 12 2010. "And, I declare the games open", Lalit Modi announced for a third time in front of a huge and eager crowd.
I had a hunch that Kolkata Knight Riders might have something for their fans this season but when they lost 2 wickets for no score in their very first over followed by losing another two wickets, they appeared to have not moved on from last 2 seasons, struggling at a miserable 31/4 at the end of 6 overs.
Deccan Chargers, even in their wildest imagination, would have never thought they could lose the match from that point. But, oh boy, they had to be reminded that this is 'IPL - Manoranjan Ka Baap'. Owais Shah and Angelo Mathews did that reminding job in a slow, steady, silent & a stylish fashion. After 20 overs, KKR had something to fight for with 161/4 on the scoreboard. Still, with a batting line-up that had the big guns like Gillie, Gibbs, Symonds, Laxman, Rohit etc 162 appeared like a cakewalk for DC.
DC did start their innings in style and did well until Laxman slogged one of Murali Kartik to give KKR a ray of hope. Amazingly, KKR started to regroup and everything fell in place for them as DC batsmen gifted their wickets, one by one, with poor shots. With the fall of every wicket I could see an aggression, an attitude & confidence building up with KKR. There was loads of positive vibe for KKR in this match which saw them winning the match comfortably in the end.
As the saying goes like "everything that start well, ends well", I expect KKR to end up in top four, may be more than that, this season.
Let us sit tight & watch the play, after all no one knows what the script writer, Lalit Modi, has in store for making IPL-3 'Manoranjan ka Baap' se 'Manoranjan ka Bada Baap'!
-Jeeva
