da gbg bet： Ravneet Ricky cracked a superb unbeaten 76, and ensured that Punjab crossed the finish line
The Bulletin by Anand Vasu in Mumbai16-Apr-2007
ScorecardIt was not the six- and four-hitting that Twenty20 cricket isnormally associated with. In fact there were only 15 fours in the firstinnings, and no sixes at all, as Karnataka scrambled to 142 for 7 at the Wankhede Stadium. Andthat proved to be too few as Punjab’s batsmen used all the freedomthey were given and won with one ball to spare. Ravneet Ricky, one of the fewbatsmen to approach this match without panic, cracked a superb unbeaten76, and ensured that his team made it just in time.After choosing to bat the going was tough for Karnataka. Much depended on the bighitting of Robin Uthappa, and when that proved a non-starter as he dragged Gagandeep Singh back onto his stumps, Karnataka had to battle hard for each run. Devraj Patil, the young wicketkeeper opening the batting, was fluent and effective, and he managed to keep one end running smoothly with 31. There was a lot of frantic running, mostly of the unnecessary andslightly panicked kind, and only one steady hand from C Raghu (32) andsome enthusiastic hitting from B Akhil (33) pushed Karnataka towardsrespectability.It was clear that the batsmen were not accustomed to playing Twenty20cricket, and perhaps attempting to do too much in the 120 balls affordedto them. The attitude of trying to pinch runs off every possibleopportunity was admirable, but some fairly adventurous attempts atimprovisation meant that Karnataka lost too many wickets too quickly. Hadthe fielding been of a higher standard – if the stumps were hit more often- Karnataka would not even have made it to 142.When the chase began it was a touch less frenetic than the first half.Punjab’s batsmen, knowing what they needed to achieve, did not try and hitevery ball out of the park. Ricky, opening the batting, dug in andclearly made up his mind to bat as normally as possible, while thosearound him went on an all-out attack.Karan Goyal steered one outside off to gully and Yuvraj Singh was atthe crease early. He seemed quite content blocking what he had to, in theknowledge that he could take on the bowler if and when needed, and clearthe field. A lazy clip off the legs for a boundary, followed by a checkeddrive that was no more than a punch which easily cleared mid-off were capped by a huge six off Sunil Joshi over midwicket. When Yuvraj, on 25, speared a catch up in the air off Raghu, and was well caught by Manish Pandey at long-off, Karnataka knew they had a big wicket.Dinesh Mongia, probably the most experienced Twenty20 cricketer of thislot, thanks to his experiences in county cricket, then took charge of the proceedings. He, like Yuvraj, was not overly stressed at playing out a fewdot balls, and instead concentrated on making it count when he went for thebig hit. And two such hits easily cleared the fence – one off Joshi andanother an audacious walk down the pitch to Akhil that ended up in the standsover midwicket. Just when it appeared that Mongia had done the job, he losthis wicket, for a crucial 35, ballooning a catch to short fine-leg tryingto play a cute scoop off Akhil.Fortunately for Punjab they had one batsman, in Ricky, who batted longenough. For the best part he just played normalcricket shots, only once trying something unusual, when the pressure wasreally on at the end, chipping a ball over the keeper’s head for a four.In the end, Ricky was the difference between the two sides, and he crashedone from Akhil through midwicket to rattle up the winning runs. Ricky wasunbeaten on 76 off only 50 balls, with 8 fours and 2 sixes.