Match Review of Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs. Rajasthan Royals

Indian Premier League - Match review
Date : 15th May 2011 Match No. : 61
Teams : Kochi Tuskers Kerala vs. Rajasthan Royals
Venue : Holkar Stadium, Indore
Umpires : P. Reiffel & R.J.Tucker Third Umpire: S. Asnani
Toss : Kochi Tuskers Kerala won the toss & choose to bowl

Playing XI

Rajasthan Royals F.Y. Fazal Shane Warne © Rahul Dravid Shane Watson Ajinkya Rahane Ashok Menaria P.R. Shah Jacob Oram A.Chavan Shaun Tait N.Doshi

Kochi Tuskers Kerala B. McCullum Mahela Jayawardane © Parthiv Patel Brad Hodge Owais Shah R. Jadeja G. Rao P. Padamnabhan P. Parameswaran R. P. Singh S. Srisanth

Kochi Tuskers were to host Rajasthan Royals in the 61st match of IPL season 4. Mathematically both teams stand a chance to qualify to the Play off positions but one loss would knock them out of the tournament. So both teams were expected to put their best foot forward to remain in the tournament.

On the points standings the Royals were placed at 5th position by earning 11 points and the Tuskers at 7th position with 10 points. It was the 2nd match of this season being played at the Holkar Stadium, Indore. As per the last match's experience the pitch should turn out to be one full of runs. The coin landed in Tuskers favor and they choose the bowl.

The Royals had made 6 changes to their playing XI squad. The batting order was also changed for this match. Fazal along with Dravid opened the innings and Watson was moved down to the 3rd position. The openers were finding it difficult to adjust to the pace of R P Singh and Sreesanth. Soon Singh gave his team the 1st breakthrough when he removed Fazal at an individual score of 16. Dravid who was struggling hard was taken care of by Sreesanth in the next over itself. The Royals were two wickets down for 18 runs, not a dream start.

Watson and Rahane were the two new men at the crease. Watson looked confident and was hitting the ball well. Rahane was the next man to go caught plumb in front of the wicket off the bowling of Sreesanth. The Royals were in serious trouble with 3 wickets down for just 26 runs. Watson was joined on the crease by Menaria who put up a good looking partnership of 37 runs. While trying to hit for a six, Watson completely misjudged the ball and got bold off the bowling of Parameswaran.

Hodge took the centre-stage and dismissed the middle lower order of the Royals. None of the batsmen reached the double figure and wickets kept falling in quick succession. Though Menaria stood firm and contributed some valuable runs to the but they could take the total to only 97 runs. The Royals were bowled out in the 19th over itself. Hodge had his best bowling figures of conceding just 13 runs and claiming 4 wickets.

98 to win cannot be a winning total on any track, unless the team defending strikes with couple of hat-tricks. The Kochi innings was opened by the dangerous McCullum and the skipper Jayawardane. Both the openers looked at ease and confident chasing a total under 100,

McCullum kicked off the Kochi innings in style by hitting Shaun Tait for a six. Though the Tusker's lost their skipper early, McCullum on the other hand kept smashing the ball. He hit two consecutive sixes in the over of his team mate Jacob Oram taking his total to 29 runs of just 12 balls. The New Zealand hitter looked in a mood to finish things for this team but was removed by Nayan Doshi. The Tuskers were 45-2 in the 3rd over.

Patel and Hodge were the two men at the crease. Hodge earlier had a great match with the ball, was positioned very comfortably to prove it with the bat as well. they both remained unbeaten at individual scores of 21 and 33 runs respective. Hodge's 33 runs came off just 17 deliveries hitting five 4's and two 6's. They both carried the momentum given by McCullum and put a quick-fire 53 runs stand to finish of the job for their team in the 8th over itself.

With a comprehensive 8 wicket win, the Tuskers still keep their hopes alive of making it to the playoff berth. With this win the Tuskers move the 6th position on the tally with 12 points in their kitty. The Rajasthan after this loss are knocked out of the tournament.

Result Kochi Tuskers Kerala won by 8 wickets

The Awards

Man of the match
Brad Hodge his all round performance with bat and ball

Maximum Sixes
B. McCullum for hitting four 6's

Kingfisher Fair Play Award
Chennai Super Kings top the chart

Orange Cap (The leading run scorer)
Paul Valthaty, Kings XI Punjab.

Purple Cap (The leading wicket taker)
Lasith Mallinga- Mumbai Indians

Question of the day
Did too much change cost the match to Rajasthan Royals?



Last Updated on 17 May 2011