KKR, Deccan win as expected

Wow, I was right. Both KKR and the Deccan Chargers won their respective matches with ease.

Even though most of you would have seen what happened on the field, I would like to point out a couple of facts on both these encounters.

In the first match, Manoj Tiwary surprised me, playing a knock that I least expected from him. I had read quite a lot about this youngster, but hitherto, he had disappointed me on a consistent basis. So much so that, I had started doubting his potential, counting him out as another over –rated domestic player. My last memory of this lad was that of his stumps in disarray in Australia by a Brett Lee screamer. It was hard to believe that this Kevin Peterson fan emulates his idol in attitude and approach. You’d never see KP looking so pathetic against any bowler, even when he is awfully out of touch. He, to me, is grace personified in whatever situation he finds himself in. On the contrary, Tiwary seems to be at all sea against quality pace bowling on lively tracks.

Not that this single knock reverses my opinion on him, but then what this inning has managed is, it has forced me to carry out another evaluation of this batsman from scratch. I would watch him play next time without any pre-conceived notion and see how he fairs. Let’s watch through this tournament and find out how good he is.

Pujara, the other domestic heavy scorer again seems to be a misfit in this version; maybe he is better suited for the longer format.

The other thing about KKR is that Ganguly looks a pale shadow of himself with the bat. That’s fine as long as he is there in this line up in order to facilitate a strong sense of self belief, but we need to see whom he keeps out once all the big guns are back. He is definitely still much better than the Shuklas & the Shahs.

In the second match, Deccan defeated CSK as expected, for two reasons. One, they have the strongest batting line up in the event, two, they were warmed up having played the opener whereas the CSK were playing their first encounter. The CSK,by no means, are pushovers and in a future encounter between these two sides, there is a 70-30 chance of Deccan winning because of their sheer batting prowess.

The Gilchrist-Gibbs-Symonds trio would definitely start as favorites against any side.

We will wait and watch.