Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Rajasthan Royals by five wickets with four balls to spare, reports The Hindu. Riders were chasing a modest total of 132 runs to register their second consecutive win. All their batsmen played well and added vital runs in their run chase.
Jacques Kallis scored 31 runs and gave the home team a good platform, after the fall of his wicket Manvinder Bisla and Manoj Tiwary took the onus on them and played good cameos.
At the end, Shakib-Al-Hasan and Yusuf Pathan held their nerves well and took their side home.
Earlier in the day Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to bat first, reports The Times of India. They had a good opening partnership as both Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane looked good and played some effective shots.
In the field restriction the openers played well and got the score to 45 after the first six overs. They lost two quick wickets and it was a partnership between Shah and Goswami that steadied things up for them. Together they added 59 runs to take the Royals past the hundred mark.
Royals needed a good late finish and they got that as Johan Botha and Brad Hodge got 15 runs in the last over from Balaji.
The pitch at the Eden Gardens was a ‘rank turner’ and Bangladeshi all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan took the full use of that, reports Hindustan Times.
The ball was turning huge on the Eden wicket and Shakib who was playing his second match of the tournament made early in-roads in the Rajasthan batting as he took two wickets in one over.
He kept a lid on the scoring and made it very difficult for the batsmen to accumulate runs. When it was his time to bat, Shakib hit a flat six over mid-wicket to ensure that there is no looking back for the Knight Riders.
Shakib for his efforts got the man of the match award.