Kolkata deserves a better performance from its Knights

So near yet so far— this was the tale of the two teams that played better cricket in their respective games on Thursday: the Chennai Super Kings and the Kolkata Knight Riders. Both the teams should have cruised to victory yet they manufactured a loss for themselves out of nothing. The Super Kings were given a dream start by one of the many retired wonders playing in this IPL, Matthew Hayden, and victory for them seemed just a formality. But somehow they failed at the post due to some disciplined bowling by the Daredevils at the death overs. The match saw the first century of the tournament by one of modern cricket’s emerging supertstars—A B De Villiers. But what was baffling to see was that for the second match running, the relatively unknown Dirk Nannes was preferred to the great Glenn Mcgrath. This decision might have proved costly for the Daredevils but they somehow scraped through in the end.

The second match of the day saw the defending champions under the leadership of the charismatic Shane Warne take on the Kolkata Knight Riders. For the first time in three matches, sanity prevailed in the camp of the multiple leaders. The mystery man Ajantha Mendis got his first match of the tournament and Akash Chopra was dropped. Mendis proved his selection was not an aberration as he spun a web around the rampaging Yousuf Pathan which stopped the run flow of the Royals. The use of Sourav Ganguly and Chris Gayle proved a master stroke as these bowlers slowed the pace which prevented the big hitters of the Royals from going under the ball and hitting it with the pace.

The Royals managed a score of 150 which should have been a cake walk for the Knight Riders with players like Gayle, Mccullum and Ganguly in their ranks. But the Knight Riders team is ‘enriched’ with so many players whose selection makes one think – why is he playing? The team is clustered with Team India discards-Ajit Agarkar, Indian Cricket’s greatest overachiever, who should probably retire even from domestic cricket but is continuing with the KKR. Akash Chopra, who can probably better Sunil Gavaskar’s record of batting 60 overs and scoring an unbeaten 35, was the team’s batsman in the slog overs. And his replacement, Sanjay Bangar— another discarded test opener— was blessing his fortune in being part of a 20-20 side. In a format such as the T-20, the performance of each player matters. One bad over might prove to be the difference between victory and defeat. Hence selection of the correct combination is a precondition for success. But the ‘multiple’ thinking men seem to leave the dressing room with their thinking caps inside their ‘mastermind coach’s’ laptop.

Chris Gayle reduced the Royals’ bowlers to oblivion before falling into the trap of the wizard from Oz— Shane Warne. If ever there was a cricketer in the history of the game unlucky enough never to have captained his side, it has to be Shane Warne. It was Warne’s belief that they would not lose that kept the Royals in the match throughout. Even while Sourav Ganguly played a tremendous innings to almost take his team to victory, Shane Warne never gave up. With a run a ball required in the last over of a T-20 game, any other captain would have given up. But not Warne. He threw the ball to his eighteen year wonder kid— Kamran Khan and egged on his team for one last fight. At that moment, his attitude made me think of two of the greatest fighters of modern sport— Steve Waugh and Rafael Nadal. Ganguly was one stroke away from glory but it was not to be his day. Even as Ishant Sharma ferociously hit the last ball through the covers, a 39 year old Shane Warne produced a Rhodes like fielding to tie the match and take it into a super over. Shane Warne through his leadership justifies the fact that one sensible leader is enough to guide a team.

Even a layman knows that you don’t bowl a spinner under lights and dew in a super over, that too when Yousuf Pathan is batting. But our ‘leaders’ led by Mr. Buchanan preferred Mendis in favour of the more logical choice— Ishant Sharma. As expected, Pathan latched on to this golden opportunity and the knights were left licking their wounds.

I don’t think Mr. Buchanan read an English proverb in his childhood— ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’— else he would have thought logically and not egoistically. All his decisions have been senseless— removing Ganguly as captain, introducing the multiple captain theory, selecting wrong players for the team. At this moment, I can’t help but see a gloomy future for the Knights if they continue to move in this unidirectional and rigid way. They are the only team to have hogged the limelight for all the wrong reasons. Representing a city like Kolkata which follows the game so religiously and passionately, such irresponsible decisions deserve an apology from the team to their fans. It is the fans who make these players superheroes and hence the team is answerable to them. After a hard day’s work, when you sit in front of the TV, you expect a good performance from your team. But such inexplicable decisions which rob a team of success are sure to have their consequences— there is a limit to everyone’s patience. Kolkata deserves a better performance from the Knights else it knows how to treat its villains.