Bangalore, Apr 18: Chasing a mammoth 222 runs against Kolkata Knight Riders Bangalore Royal Challengers failed to live up to expectations. Losing four wickets for just 24 runs Bangalore’s challenge seemed to be over. Rahul Dravid, Kallis, Jaffer and Virat Kohli all were dismissed cheaply. Bangalore now need a magical innings if they have to put any challenge. Earlier, riding on Brendon McCullum’s spectacular century, Kolkata Knight Riders posted a mammoth target of 222 runs against Bangalore. Rahul Dravid men looked jaded following McCullum’s carnage who dispatched 13 sixes and 10 fours in his unbeaten 158 of 74 balls. Now that ‘Korbo Lorbo’ is achieved, Riders have to stop Dravid & Co. for ‘Jeetbo.’

Ricky Ponting and McCullum ensured that Kolkata don’t lose any wickets after Ganguly’s wicket, as the duo compiled a fifty run partnership in just 38 balls. Bangalore captain Rahul Dravid brought Sunil Joshi in the tenth over only to see McCullum clearing the ropes for his fourth six of the match. Ricky Ponting was the second batsman dismissed after miscuing a Kallis delivery only to see Pravin Kumar complete a safe catch. Sourav Ganguly and Brendon McCullum amassed as many as 60 runs in the first five overs. McCullum in particular was severe on Zaheer Khan who was taken out off attack after giving away 18 runs in the only over he bowled. Ganguly was the first batsman dismissed nicking a Zaheer Khan delivery in the sixth over. Ricky Ponting joined McCullum after the fall of Kolkata captain. Eighteen runs of Zaheer Khan’s second over and Kolkata Knight Riders were off to a flying start. Brendon McCullum was the destroyer in chief smashing three fours and one six of a miss- hit. Earlier, Bangalore Royal Challengers captain Rahul Dravid won the toss and elected to bat first.After all the hype, the focus finally shifts back to cricket. Though T20 is yet to be embraced by the traditionalists, yet the exciting format of the game seems to be the future of the game for many.

Kolkata Knight Riders :

Sourav Ganguly(c), Aakash Chopra, Ajit Agarkar, Brendon McCullum(w), Cheteshwar Pujara, Chris Gayle, David Hussey, Debabrata Das, Iqbal Abdulla, Ishant Sharma, Laxmi Shukla, Mohammad Hafeez, Murali Kartik, Prasanta Saha, Ricky Ponting, Rohan Banerjee, Salman Butt, Saurasish Lahiri, Shoaib Akhtar, Siddarth Kaul, Tatenda Taibu, Umar Gul, Yashpal Singh

Bangalore Royal Challengers:

Rahul Dravid(c), Abdur Razzak, Anil Kumble, Balachandra Akhil, Bharat Chipli, Cameron White, Dale Steyn, Devraj Patil, Jacques Kallis, Jagadeesh Arunkumar, KP Appanna, Mark Boucher(w), Misbah-Ul-Haq, Ashley Noffke, Praveen Kumar, Ross Taylor, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Shreevats Goswami, Sunil Joshi, Vinay Kumar, Virat Kohli, Wasim Jaffer, Zaheer Khan

"IPL has started disrupting international calender"

Agencies

Karachi, Apr 18: The Indian Premier League has come in for flak from former Pakistan captains including Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram, who feel the cash-rich Twenty20 competition has begun to damage the international cricket calendar.

"The IPL has already started hurting the international calendar and in the long run it will encourage more private parties and organisations to come in and start their own leagues if they have big money to roll," he said on Friday.

Miandad said the IPL would create a divide in international cricket and feared players would be willing to sacrifice their international careers to play for more money in the the BCCI-backed league.

"People are comparing the IPL with the Kerry Packer series in the late '70s. But these are two totally different things. The Packer series was held when players were paid ridiculously low wages," Miandad said.

"The Packer circus brought in new concepts into international cricket which were beneficial in the long run and it forced the boards to improve pay structures to a reasonable level. The figures being quoted by the IPL organisers are ridiculously high," he said.

Miandad said when the International Cricket Council had decided to host the Twenty20 World Championship every alternate year, there was no room for a private league.

Akram also raised an alarm in a television interview, saying the IPL could prove to be a negative distraction for international players as they could end up preferring to play in private leagues than for their national teams.