2010 IPL 3 Match 4: Knight Riders Ride High Despite Kallis' Half Century For RCB

Not only was Vijay Mallya watching the Formula One season’s opening race at the Bahrain Grand Prix but also, many of the cricket fans who could not bear to watch the Royal Challengers Bangalore going to piece once again.
South Africa’s Jacques Kallis was the only man with the staying power as the RCB team put up another insipid performance to kick start the IPL 3 season at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
Sourav Ganguly’s men enjoyed a great time on the field as the RCB struggled to wriggle free and continued to lose wickets toiling to add runs on board.
It was a match of contrasts as only Rahul Dravid and Robin Uthappa could contribute twenty runs a piece in the middle order. The RCB’s total was driven largely by Kalli’s fifty-two ball sixty-five runs and it was never going to be enough until the RCB bowlers bowled out of their skin.
Angelo Matthews showed his prowess with the bat in the first match, and turned it on with the ball in the second match for KKR, picking up four wickets and conceding just nineteen runs in his four overs.
And the contrast continued as the RCB bowlers, including the likes of Dale Steyn, were clobbered all over the park as Manoj Tiwary and Brad Hodge put up a terrific 1010 run partnership in less than twelve overs to show just how poorly RCB were prepared for this match. Tiwary suffered a leg injury, and although not serious will but of some concern. Still he used the long handle of the bat, making his half century off just twenty-nine balls. Hodge had his half century off forty-five balls.
Roelof van der Merwe’s two wickets came a tad too late for the Royal Challengers. And in the end, it was left to the KKR captain, Sourav Ganguly, who capped off the day with nearly a run a ball twenty-three to end the match on a high note, KKR winning by seven wickets with four balls to spare much to the delight of the franchisee owners, Bollywood actors, Shah Rukh Khan an Juhi Chawla.