Gambhir dazzles as Daredevils lose 9th straight game at Kotla

NEW DELHI: It was a red-carpet welcome for Gautam Gambhir to his home ground at the Ferozeshah Kotla as everything went right for the Kolkata Knight Riders skipper right from winning the toss.
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The hosts association - Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) - forgot that he was the captain of the rival team, Kolkata Knight Riders, when they dished out one of the greenest tracks in recent times at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Monday.
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A chase of 147 was never going to be any trouble for the defending champions of the IPL but their skipper made it all the more simple, setting up a six-wicket win with 11 balls to spare.
Gambhir (60; 49b, 8x4) scored his third half-century in four innings to stretch his sizzling form, falling only at the doorstep of victory.
The only hiccup in the KKR innings came in the fifth over when Dominic Muthuswamy dismissed Robin Uthappa (13) and Manish Pandey (0) in the matter of four deliveries.
Gambhir was unruffled in the middle, first stitching a 48-run stand with Suryakumar Yadav (24; 16b, 2x4, 1x6) and then the match-sealing 65run partnership for the fourth wicket with Yusuf Pathan, who remained unbeaten on 40 (26b, 6x4, 1x6).
The Daredevils played right into the hands of KKR, laying out a track perfect for their opponents' strengths. Delhi, who ended the run of 11 successive losses in Pune last week, failed to break the Kotla jinx as they notched up their ninth loss on the trot at their home ground dating back to IPL 7.
Gambhir had no hesitation in deciding to bowl first after calling correctly and immediately unleashed his pace battery in the form of Umesh Yadav and Morne Morkel.
It was only Angelo Mathews' (28; 21b, 1x4, 2x6) lusty blows late in the innings that even got them to this total. The Sri Lankan ODI skipper's 20 runs off Sunil Narine's final over (the penultimate over of the innings) was the lone bright spot in the hosts' innings.
The extra pace and bounce of the KKR seamers immediately troubled the young Daredevils openers Mayank Agarwal and Shreyas Iyer. The former, who has been in fine knick so far, found Morkel too hot for comfort and only managed to top-edge him to a diving Yadav at fine-leg in the second over.
It was a sign of things to come for Daredevils, who failed to get any momentum into their innings after the early wicket. In-form skipper JP Duminy (5) struggled to read Narine's 'mystery' ball and also walked back early.
Iyer weathered the early storm and was the only one to take on the KKR bowlers.
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