Tuesday 16 April 2013

Customer care at Eden Gardens

Choice of gameThe prospect of watching of Jacques Kallis face Dale Steyn and Kumar Sangakkara face Sunil Narine was mouth-watering. Kallis, having taken so many catches at slips off Steyn's bowling, surely knew the bowler's strengths and weaknesses and vice versa. Sangakkara has always been dexterous at playing spin, so I had expected a great duel between him and Narine, who is easily the wiliest spinner in IPL.I had expected Kolkata Knight Riders to win the match, because they were a better team on paper, were playing at home and, had a certain Sunil Narine in the team.Team supportedIt's a no-brainer for me -- it has got to be Knight Riders again. The Eden Gardens will host the final this time and just imagine the ambience if Knight Riders manage to make it. In such a case, I foresee the ticket touts making a killing.Key performer Gautam Gambhir was the Man of the Match and I do not dispute the fact that he batted well and marshalled his resources well. However, Knight Riders owed the score of 180 -- an excellent score on this wicket -- to Eoin Morgan's innings. Before Morgan launched his onslaught, Knight Riders seemed to be progressing towards a 150-ish total. Sunrisers Hyderabad would have happily settled for a target of about 150 -- they had thrived chasing and defending low totals in their preceding games. So Morgan's innings took the game beyond Sunrisers' reach.One thing I'd have changedI only wish Sunrisers had been a little more competitive. They arrived in Kolkata with a pretty good record, in fact, a better win-loss record than Knight Riders, but almost handed the match to Knight Riders on a platter. While I was happy to see my home team win, I was disappointed to see such a facile win.Wow momentI might never know whether Yusuf Pathan, when he was a kid, was adept at plucking fruits that hung high on trees, but when he leapt to take a catch which many had thought was destined for a six off Cameron White's bat, he probably gave away a little bit of information about the pranks he played when he was younger.

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