Relieved Royal Challengers wave goodbye to their captain

Patrick Compton

DURBAN:Kolkata Knight Riders captain Brendan McCullum looked like a man with an overweight and very dead albatross around his neck when he fronted up to the media after his team plunged to the bottom of the IPL standings at Kingsmead on Wednesday.

The normally ebullient Kiwi was the picture of gloom as he contemplated his team's fourth defeat in six matches, with one washed out. It was no compensation that they came close to defending a modest total of 139 in a thriller, with Royal Challengers Bangalore man of the match, Mark Boucher, hitting the winning runs with one ball to spare.

At a press conference in Durban on Tuesday night, McCallum-who replaced the iconic Sourav Ganguly as skipper for this year's tournament said he would quit the captaincy if he couldn't inspire his team to reach the semi-finals. "If I can't do that, then I am not the right man for the job and will happily step aside."

It's clear that McCullum is wobbling on his throne, conceding that his team had simply not played well enough. He did, however, insist that Kolkata could still reach the last four. "We've got to still keep believing that we can do it," he said repeatedly with not a great deal of conviction.

By contrast, the captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kevin Pietersen, was a picture of smiling satisfaction as he quickly answered a few questions before rushing off to the airport to board a plane back to England. With England facing the West Indies in the first Test at Lord's next Wednesday, the former England captain's focus is now on the five-day game rather than the 20-over fete.

"Test cricket is the pinnacle and there's no other form of the game that I would choose before Test cricket," he said as he assessed the challenges ahead of his this English summer, first against the Caribbean islanders and then against Australia in the Ashes series. Pietersen, however, made it clear that he'd had a ball at the IPL. "I've absolutely loved playing here. I know I haven't scored as many runs as I can but to keep the boys happy and smiling has been brilliant. I've felt like a kid again in this team with all the youngsters giving us a freshness that has been magnificent," he gushed.

Pietersen's interesting tactic of opening with two spin bowlers and focusing largely on spin (15 of the 20 overs were delivered by four spinners) paid off as the Knight Riders were restricted to 139 for six in their 20 overs.

The Kingsmead pitch, shorn of most of its grass and unusually dry, offered the tweakers an unsual amount of purchase, and with the pace taken off the ball, it was not easy for batsmen to score freely.

Pietersen himself took a wicket off the first ball of the Knight Riders innings, with McCullum slashing him to backward point, but Chris Gayle and Brad Hodge added 45 in 36 balls before Anil Kumble, with another tremendous return of two for 16 in his four overs, began the rot as the innings became virtually becalmed.

After Gayle-who needed a runner for the latter stages of his unusually restrained innings of 40 in 37 balls- departed, caught on the midwicket boundary by Shreevats Goswami, it took a valuable unbeaten 43 from Morne van Wyk, making his first appearance for Knight Riders, to see the team through to their modest total.

In response, Royal Challenger Bangalore looked in complete command when their opening pair of Jacques Kallis and Goswami built a solid platform, staying together until the 'strategic break' which they took at 65. Needing only 75 in 60 balls in the second half of the innings, victory seemed a formality.

The expected, however, rarely happens in this form of the game, and the quick loss of the openers as well as Pietersen and Virat Kohli in the 16th delivered by Brad Hodge, threw the pressure back on the batting team.

Fortunately for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mark Boucher emerged as the team's iron-nerved lifesaver, slamming 25 in 13 balls with the winning boundary off Gayle coming with one ball to spare. Royal Challengers Bangalore were able to breathe a sigh of relief, wave goodbye to their captain and prepare for their next match here against the Kings XI Punjab.