Batting failure leads to heavy loss for Knights

A dismal batting display by the Kolkata Knight riders led to a heavy defeat against the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede stadium, a major setback to the team's semi-final hopes.

Against a classic display of line and length bowling from Shaun Pollock, the Knight Riders simply couldn't get going and collapsed to a record low total of 67, the lowest in the IPL so far. Not a single batsman managed a decent score, the highest being 15 from Ganguly and Ajit Agarkar.

Sachin Tendulkar was a major influence on the game, winning the toss and inserting the opposition, marshalling his bowlers deftly, and grabbing four catches to boot. Bravo, Raje and Thornely continued Pollock's good work, and Kolkata was cut down mercilessly.

With nothing to bowl at, Shoaib Akthar charged in and removed Tendulkar in his first over. But Jayasuriya then took over and it was all over in a flash.

With the fight for the semi-final spot hotting up, Kolkata's brains trust of Ganguly and Buchanan will have to come up with some solution for the brittle batting, which looks too dependent on Ganguly and Hussey to provide the runs. Salman Butt and Aakash Chopra haven't inspired confidence, and Saha, Das and Shukla must be pushing for a place up the order. The youngsters have shown the aggression and hunger whenever given the chance, and certainly things couldn't get worse. If the batting manages to get runs on the board, then the Knights have the bowling to rattle any opposition. Much for the team management to think about before the coming games.

The team has managed to bounce back before, and will have to manage a turnaround before it's too late. Their fans will be hoping for just that.