by Anton Johan
The Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament, which comes so soon on the tail of the World Cup, has already produced some great action.
The Kolkata Knight Riders made their first home game appearance at Eden Gardens this week and they were up against the Deccan Chargers.
The most glaring fact about this game was that Kolkata fans clearly voted with their feet regarding the absence of their idol, Sourav Ganguly, who was ousted with other under-performing team members ahead of the IPL.
Despite the fact that 25,000 spectators turned up to see the game, officials say that this was the lowest recorded number for a Koklata Knight Riders home game in history.
It was clearly obvious that even a Kolkata home game in the first stages of the much awaited IPL IV would fail to draw a crowd if the team was minus Ganguly.
Said the joint-secretary of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), Sujan Mukherjee: "KKR was all about Sourav. He is an icon and without him the team loses its biggest start. It's very hard to win support of the crowd in Kolkata after dropping Sourav or not buying him during the auction."
Yet, despite Ganguly's absence, the new-look team went in for a 163 for 4 victory over the Deccan Chargers who managed 154 for eight before the overs ran out.
After the game, everyone agreed that the KKR may have whetted the appetite of their fans and have set the stage for some excellent IPL action in this tournament.
Current odds on the Overall Winner of the Indian Premier League 2011
Mumbai Indians 5.00
Chennai Super Kings 6.50
Royal Challengers Bangalore 6.50
Kolkata Knight Riders 8.00
Pune Warriors India 9.00
Rajasthan Royals 13.00
Delhi Daredevils 15.00
Kochi Tuskers Kerala 15.00
