MI prevails over KKR - ten Doeschate, the big fish in small pond

You are most unlikely to identify him. 

The IPL4 extravaganza is about to end. When it started there were prices who were bought at extraordinary prices and many have not contributed.  The focus was on individuals like Sachin, Pollard, Gambhir, Kallis, Gayle, Dhoni, Warne – in the end some names hitherto unheard have surfaced.  

Yesterday it was all about a big fish in a small pond.  A name not so well known in Indian circle – a man who has played 33 ODI scoring 1541 runs and 9 T20s.

At Wankhede, Sachin won the toss and put KKR in – Kallis went at 1.4; Gambhir heaved and left at  2.5, Goswami @ 3.2 and by the first quarter KKR were 4 down with only 20 on board raising doubts of a score above 100.  Yusuf Pathan though feared has not done much and he combined with Ryan Neil ten Doeschate.  -Who ?   A right hand bat who also bowls medium fast, born in Port Elizabeth but plays for Netherlands.  He took the score to a fighting total of 147/7 contributing 70 remaining unbeaten.

MI began aggressively with a balzing start from Aiden Blizzard and Sachin but floundered towards the end and somehow managed to win.   From 81 without loss in 8, they went sliding to 103/4 in 13^th. When the rate was challenging, Brett Lee’s bouncer hit Bhaji on the head and went for a four much to the chagrin of KKR.   KKR earlier were aided by the messy Ambati Rayudu who struggled with the gloves.  MI won with 4 wickets with 4 balls remaining 

Ten doeschate, if one can remember made two hundreds in the recent World Cup 2011.  At Nagpur on 22^nd Feb 2011, against England,  he made a stroke filled 119 off 110 balls with 9 fours and 3 sixers helping  Dutch post a commanding 292.  In the match of minnows, Netherlands set an imposing 306 thanks to the century of Doeschate [106] and Borren who made 84.  Ireland chased that score and won by six wickets is history.  

The performances were clearly of a single person playing for minnows still elevating the team performance to a higher echelon.  He has made name with performances for Essex and in leagues downunder.  Sure IPL has provided him a grander platform to showcase his talent.

Regards – S. Sampathkumar