Cuttack: Deccan Chargers slumped to their fifth consecutive loss in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) losing to Kolkata Knight Riders by five wickets at the Barabati Stadium here Sunday. Knight Riders' bowlers had a great day in the office never allowing Deccan Chargers to get a foothold in the game.
Lakshmipathy Balaji was the pick of the Knight Riders bowlers taking two for 22 as Deccan were restricted to 126 for seven.
The Knight Riders cruised to fourth win in the tournament with Gautam Gambhir scoring 30 off 28 balls as Kolkata scored 127 for five with an over to spare.
It was a good team effort by the Knight Riders with Gambhir, Jacques Kallis (23) and Manoj Tiwary (30 not out) chipping in with crucial runs.
Gambhir gave Knight Riders a quick start but they lost wickets consistently. Kallis and Tiwary steadied the ship with big hitting Yusuf Pathan (6) failing with the bat once again.
Tiwary and Kallis forged a crucial 33-run stand to take Kolkata over the line. South African pacer Dale Steyn was the pick of the bowlers taking two for 24.
Deccan put into bat, after rain had delayed the start of play, made a slow start. Skipper Kumar Sangakkara (12) trying to up the ante got his middle stumps knocked off by Balaji. Parthiv Patel (23) and Shikhar Dhawan (50) were looking good at the crease but a mix-up between the two ended the wicketkeeper's innings prematurely.
After Patel's departure, Deccan never recovered and lost wickets at regular intervals. Dhawan, who hit four fours and a six, got out trying to hoick Rajat Bhatia over the boundary but could only find the fielder.
Subsequently, Deccan's innings fell apart as Knight Riders bowlers really put some pressure and didn't allow the batsman to get away.
Balaji bowled a brilliant penultimate over giving away just four runs and taking one wicket.
Scorecard:
Deccan Chargers:
Kumar Sangakkara b Balaji 12
Shikhar Dhawan c Das b Bhatia 50
Parthiv Patel run out (Kallis/Bhatia) 23
Cameron White c Das b Lee 10
Jean Paul Duminy not out 16
Ishant Jaggi c McCullum b Narine 3
Ankit Sharma c Gambhir b Balaji 1
Dale Steyn c Tiwary b Narine 7
Amit Mishra not out 1
Extras (lb 2, nb 1) 3
Total (for seven wickets in 20 overs) 126
Fall of wickets: 1-37 (Sangakkara, 5.5 overs), 2-81 (Patel, 11.3), 3-95 (White,
14.1), 4-100 (Dhawan, 15.4), 5-109 (Jaggi, 17.4), 6-113 (Ankit, 18.3), 7-121 (Steyn,
19.2)
Bowling:
Yusuf Pathan 2-0-19-0
Brett Lee 4-0-15-1
Sunil Narine 4-0-26-2
Lakshmipathy Balaji 4-0-22-2
Jacques Kallis 2-0-16-0
Rajat Bhatia 4-0-26-1
Kolkata Knight Riders:
Brendan McCullum lbw Steyn 10
Gautam Gambhir c Sangakkara b Anand 30
Manvinder Bisla b Mishra 10
Jacques Kallis c Patel b Steyn 23
Yusuf Pathan b Ankit 6
Manoj Tiwary not out 30
Debabrata Das not out 9
Extras (lb 2, w 7) 9
Total (for five wickets in 19 overs) 127
Fall of wickets: 1-16 (McCullum, 2.5 overs), 2-44 (Bisla, 6.6), 3-64 (Gambhir, 9.5),
4-72 (Pathan, 10.4), 5-105 (Kallis, 16.2)
Bowling:
Dale Steyn 4-0-24-2
Ankit Sharma 4-0-19-1
Veer Pratap Singh 4-0-35-0
Amit Mishra 4-0-27-1
Cameron White 1-0-8-0
Anand Rajan 2-0-11-1
Toss: Knight Riders, who chose to field
Result: Knight Riders won by five wickets
Umpires: Billy Bowden (New Zealand) and Shavir Tarapore
TV umpire: Vineet Kulkarni
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka)
(IANS)
