Tait’s superlative bowling (three for 13) confined the home team to a paltry 125 after Sourav Ganguly elected to bat, and Watson’s rapid unbeaten 90 made the target appear even smaller than it was. The win, achieved with 22 balls to spare, took Royals to fourth on the points table, while for Pune their sixth consecutive loss meant that the climb back into last-four contention now borders on the impossible.
Such was Watson’s dominance that he needed little help from any other batsman - the next highest score for Royals was 18. The Australian all-rounder revved into activity in the third over of the chase, going after Murali Karthik. After clearing long-on with a brutal strike, Watson went for a repeat and was almost caught by the incredible Steven Smith at the boundary.
Smith, a genuine contender for the best fielder in the world today, caught the ball and realizing he was going to overstep the boundary, tossed the ball in, but failed to hurl it the required distance. Smith pushed the ball in again – still beyond the boundary, but with both feet off the ground – and finally caught it on his third attempt. A six was declared, but full points to Smith for attempting an implausible catch at the boundary – something he’s been doing almost every bloody match.
Watson continued with the same intensity, reaching his fifty in 27 balls, and ended with ten fours, and four sixes, to his name, twice the number scored by the entire Pune team. He was named Man of the match, but there was another contender who could have justifiably staked his claim on that honour – Tait.
Tait bowled with fire as Pune struggled after electing to bat. The home team scored just five fours and two sixes to stagger to 125 – not the most ideal platform from which to arrest a five-match losing streak. Ganguly inexplicably assumed opening duties alongside Michael Clarke.
The two struggled to find the boundary and had scored one apiece when the Pune captain fell to a Tait bouncer that had likely been fired in at the behest of Ganguly’s opposite number- Rahul Dravid.
Dravid’s familiarity with Ganguly’s mode of play resulted in the left-hander’s wicket after the former India captain had been dropped by Tait off a Watson short delivery in the previous over.
Soon after Ganguly’s exit, Clarke was trapped in front by Stuart Binny, depriving Pune of their senior-most batsmen one ball beyond the Powerplay – which contained an unpardonable 20 dot balls.
Despite the lethargy of the innings, Pune chose to promote Bengal’s Anustup Majumdar over the far more aggressive Angelo Mathews and Steven Smith. Majumdar looked to break free when he tonked two sixes off Ankeet Chavan, but soon lost his stumps to a Johan Botha yorker.
Robin Uthappa carried on for a while in the same sluggish vein of his previous IPL-V knocks and Steven Smith too failed to take off. Pune scored at less than a run-a all in the last eight overs, indicating just how fine a job Tait and Binny (3-0-12-1) had accomplished for Royals.
0 comments:
Speak up your mind
Tell us what you're thinking... !