Cut-price Gony outshines pricey stars

Cricinfo staff

May 31, 2008

When Ishant Sharma went for US$950,000 at the IPL auction in February, Manpreet Gony's name would have elicited a blank stare from most Indian cricket aficionados. You couldn't blame them either. In five first-class games, Gony had just 13 wickets, and there were no howls of protest when he was signed by the Chennai Super Kings rather than his home franchise, the Kings XI Punjab.

On Saturday night, with a global audience watching, he returned to silence the thousands that had been given Punjab flags to wave in the stands. He had finished the league stage with 14 wickets, twice what Ishant managed, but he saved his best for the biggest game that he's ever played in.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni had gambled by opening the bowling with Muttiah Muralitharan, but after a relatively tidy over, he sensed that pace was the key to settling the contest. With Makhaya Ntini back to his spring-heeled best at one end, Gony was unleashed from the Garware Pavilion End.

It took Gony just two balls to justify his captain's faith. When he moved one away from Kumar Sangakkara, there was little response from the Chennai fielders and only a half-hearted plea from his side. Astonishingly though, Sangakkara walked, as Adam Gilchrist had in a World Cup semi-final against Sri Lanka at Port Elizabeth five years ago.

In his next over, Gony landed the big fish. It was a short delivery and when Yuvraj got into position for the pull, Chennai fans must have feared the worst. Few hit the ball harder, and most eyes had already veered towards the rope by the time Murali stuck his hands out to take a blinder. At 28 for 3, the game was slip-sliding away from the men in red and grey.

When he next stepped up to the bowling crease, Gony came up with what must count as the T20 equivalent of a tiger sighting - the maiden over. And he wasn't bowling to some chump either. Irfan Pathan can wallop the ball a long way, but he couldn't even play it out of the circle as Gony bowled the perfect length at lively pace. And though Mahela Jayawardene finally tapped one behind point for four in his final over, the match had effectively been decidedly two balls earlier, when a catastrophic mix-up sent Pathan on his way.

Gony's delight as he whipped off the bails was palpable, and his spell a true reflection of the manner in which Chennai have revived their season after a really sticky patch. His 16 wickets are the second highest for an Indian fast bowler and it was no surprise that his name came up for consideration when the squad was being chosen for the tri-series in Bangladesh and the Asia Cup.

Compared to what he has gone through recently off the field, bowling six dot balls would have been a breeze. He and his wife lost their first child, a boy, 15 days after he was born. For him, the IPL hasn't just been a chance to stake his cricketing claim, but also an opportunity to move on. Jayawardene lost a younger brother to cancer when he was a star in the making, and has often spoken of how that traumatic experience helped him to treat what happened on the field with equanimity. The man who shredded his team's hopes tonight would probably be inclined to agree.

© Cricinfo

Losing the plot when it counts

Cricinfo staff

May 31, 2008

Kings XI Punjab had been the in-form batting unit of the tournament. Slogs and heaves are commonplace in the Twenty20 format, but Punjab's batsmen, especially Shaun Marsh, had used conventional strokes to bisect fields and take apart opposition attacks. However, when it mattered the most, Marsh was the biggest offender among a string of batsmen who chose the rash over the reliable.

Marsh was Man of the Match in five of his ten games, and Punjab sailed into second spot thanks primarily to the strong platform he laid at the top. However, with Marsh accumulating the runs, his more illustrious team-mates in the middle order hadn't faced much of a challenge in the tournament.

Tom Moody, their coach, had brushed aside those fears, confident his batsmen were in good nick. But the likes of Kumar Sangakkara, Yuvraj Singh and Mahela Jayawardene fell apart in the face of some hostile, accurate bowling by Makhaya Ntini and Manpreet Gony.

Pressure, athletes tell us, is something they thrive on. But adrenalin used wrongly can backfire. Just as the Delhi Daredevils batting order had crumbled the previous evening, Punjab lost the momentum early on and kept faltering. Ntini and Gony pitched it short and the Punjab batsmen, instead of trying to survive the early barrage, attempted ill-advised, expansive strokes.

James Hopes flailed unconvincingly at a wide one, handing an easy catch to the wicketkeeper. Marsh had already been surprised by Ntini's pace on the bouncer as a top-edged pull sailed for six, but didn't learn his lesson and played-on another sharp shorter delivery in Ntini's next over. Sangakkara was undone by a good outswinger from Gony but he had committed to go for a flashy drive and in the process offered the faintest of edges. All batsmen of class, but each one failing while trying to force the pace.

Moody later blamed the defeat on his batsmen, who he admitted suffered from nerves, to execute the plans. "It was the first time this has happened, the top order failing so badly," he said. "We faced a critical stumbling block today from which we could never recover."

Yuvraj was disconsolate and left the left the post-match presentation mid-way. For him the match was lost in the first phase. "We didn't do well under pressure. We lost too many wickets too quickly in the first 5-7 overs.

"We lost the main batsmen very quickly in the game, as a result we had no specialist batsmen left in the last 10 overs," Yuvraj said. "This is our worst game in the tournament. It hit us hard as in Twenty20 you don't get time to recover."

© Cricinfo

Ganguly and Gul end Kolkata's campaign on a high

Kolkata Knight Riders 175 for 7 (Ganguly 86*, Gul 24) beat Kings XI Punjab 174 for 6 (Sangakkara 64, Marsh 40, Gul 4-23) by three wicketsScorecard and ball-by-ball detailsHow they were out Umar Gul inspired the Kolkata Knight Riders to a thrilling final-over win over Kings XI Punjab.
The Kolkata Knight Riders' final game of the season provided Sourav Ganguly and his team a chance to redeem themselves in front of their home fans. An insipid performance in the field and for three-fourths of the chase suggested the campaign would end on a low note but, after Umar Gul sparked life into the chase, Ganguly did the rest to upset Kings XI Punjab's winning momentum ahead of the knockout stages.

After 15 overs, Kolkata were stumbling at 104 for 5, needing an improbable 71 more. Two runs and three balls later they lost Aakash Chopra and in walked Umar Gul, who had taken 4 for 23. After playing the first ball from James Hopes back to the bowler, he proceeded to smash the next two for six - he connected the first in the nick of time for a pull and the ball surprisingly sailed into the stands, the second was sent over long-on.
That seemed to inspire Ganguly, who made Yuvraj Singh rue the decision to bowl Piyush Chawla. Ganguly launched a straight six, swept one for four, and sent one flying over midwicket. Twenty-eight runs had come in the space of five balls, and the chase was back on track.

Sreesanth had delivered a probing first spell but Gul took his chance, and 16 runs off the over - a six and two fours, off the bat and off the leg - brought the equation down to 23 off two.

VRV Singh bowled the penultimate over, removing Gul and giving away only eight runs, leaving 15 needed off the final six balls. The stage was set for Ganguly and he didn't disappoint the Kolkata faithful. The first ball from Irfan Pathan was whipped over the square-leg boundary, followed by a two and another six straight down the ground to tie the score before a single sealed the win.

Punjab, who had clinched two consecutive games in the final over, would have felt their total of 174 - the highest total at Eden Gardens - was enough. Their innings was dominated yet again by their top order. Kumar Sangakkara and Shaun Marsh continued from their partnership against the Deccan Chargers, and Punjab punished Kolkata's lacklustre effort in the field - barring Umar Gul's splendid effort with the ball, there was hardly any spark in Kolkata's performance.

Sangakkara showed off his silken touch and found the boundaries effortlessly. Along with deft touches, he managed to improvise as well; he moved across against Laxmi Ratan Shukla, and swatted the ball over short third man with ease. Marsh wasn't to be outscored, and hit Sri Lankan spin sensation Ajantha Mendis for fours. He then smashed two sixes, premeditating a slog-sweep over midwicket off Shukla, before depositing David Hussey over the straight boundary. But another charge against Mendis landed straight into the hands of Chopra at long-on.

Unfortunately for Sangakkara, a dodgy leg-before decision went against him. Kolkata's fielding was woeful, with several misfields going for fours and a few spilled chances. Yuvraj has been struggling for form in the tournament but he was given a reprieve. He got a top-edge, and Ganguly ran back from midwicket to get under the skier, but Chopra, coming in from deep called and was better placed to take it; the two collided, and the ball popped out of Ganguly's hands.

Yuvraj added insult to injury by smashing three fours in Ishant Sharma's final over, and the IPL's most expensive bowler, who has had a disappointing tournament, ended with 49 runs from four overs. But Gul, a steal at US$150,000 considering his World Twenty20 heroics, managed to fire in the yorkers, and after he gave just eight in his first spell, removing James Hopes, he came back to remove the set Sangakkara, who was readying to tee off. Only four came off the final over he bowled, with two scalps, and his 4 for 23 ensured Punjab's score wasn't out of Kolkata's reach.
Source: © Cricinfo Mathew Varghese is an editorial assistant at Cricinfo