McCullum mayhem marks IPL opener
If the Indian Premier League (IPL) opening ceremony was stunningly spectacular, so was the hurricane batting of Brendon McCullum for Kolkata Knight Riders that just blew the Bangalore Royal Challengers off the field in the first match of the tournament at Bangalore. The Kiwi batsman, who did not keep wickets in the match, played the innings of his life by scoring an unbeaten 158 off only 73 balls. This is the highest individual score ever in a 20/20 first class match that alone was responsible for Sourav Ganguly’s Kolkata team piling up a huge total of 222 for 3. The other Kolkata batsmen, including Ganguly and Ricky Ponting, could do little more than watching the McCullum mayhem from the non-striker’s end.
Almost all the Bangalore bowlers came in for severe punishment from McCullum who hit as many as 10 fours and 13 sixes. Only Zaheer Khan, returning from an injury, and Praveen Kumar bowled well in patches although McCullum spared none of them.
The Bangalore team led by Rahul Dravid looked dazed when they began their reply and were bundled out for a paltry 82 to lose the match by a huge margin of 140 runs. But credit must be given to the Kolkata bowlers who allowed the Royal Challengers no liberty to put up a fight. Only Jacques Kallis gave the home crowd a moment of joy when he lofted Ajit Agarkar for a six. The match brought to the fore one important point debated by cricket lovers for some time: the Bangalore team lacks big hitters and is full of orthodox Test cricketers like Dravid, Kallis, Wasim Jaffer and so on.
However, things may change for Dravid’s team in their next outings. But Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, owner of the Kolkata team, had plenty to smile and dance about which he literally did at the stands when McCullum was on the rampage.
It was McCullum, and McCullum only, who made the IPL opening match an occasion to remember.
Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 222 for 3 (McCullum 158*); Bangalore Royal Challengers 82 (Agarkar 3-25). Kolkata Knight Riders won by 140 runs.
