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Rediff.com  » Cricket » IPL: Gambhir, Yusuf help holders Kolkata ease past Delhi

IPL: Gambhir, Yusuf help holders Kolkata ease past Delhi

April 20, 2015 23:36 IST
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Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir raise his bat after completes his half century against Delhi Daredevils during their Indian Premier League match at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium. Photograph: PTI

Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Delhi Daredevils by six wickets in their Indian Premier League match at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium.

- Scorecard

Chasing a modest 147 to win, Kolkata reached home with 11 balls to spare.

Gautam Gambhir (60) and Yusuf Pathan (40 not out) added 65 runs (off just 47 balls) for the fourth wicket in a stand that carried the defending champions home. 

It's Kolkata's third win, in four matches, this season - their lone loss coming against Royal Challengers Bangalore. 

Morne Morkel of the Kolkata Knight Riders celebrates the wicket of Mayank Agarwal of the Delhi Daredevils. Photograph: BCCI

Earlier, the Kolkata bowlers, led by Morne Morkel and man of the match Umesh Yadav, bowled a tight line to restrict Delhi Daredevils to 146 for eight.

Put into bat, Delhi were hurt by lack of partnerships but a late flourish from Angelo Mathews (21-ball 28) helped the home side get some respect to their total as Morkel and Yadav picked two wickets apiece. 

The South African pacer (2-30) drew first blood after getting Mayank Agarwal (1) caught at long leg with Yadav taking a sprawling catch.

Mystery spinner Sunil Narine then struck in his very first over, cleaning up skipper Jean-Paul Duminy (5), who was done in by an off-spinner that was pitched outside the leg-stump to the left-hander.

Manoj Tiwary of the Delhi Daredevils bats during the Indian Premier League match against Kolkata. Photograph: BCCI

Shreyas Iyer (31) then counter-attacked to stitch a 36-run partnership with Manoj Tiwary (32). 

Just when it seemed the Mumbai-born player, who hit three fours and a six, is ready to take on the Kolkata bowlers, leg-spinner Piyush Chawla got the dangerman cleaned up in the ninth over. 

Tiwary then joined hands with Yuvraj Singh (21) to not only rebuild the DD innings after the strategic time out but also improve the scoring-rate with a few hits to the fence.

But the Bengal player, whose 28-ball stay was laced with four boundaries, was scalped by Morkel after he mis-timed a pull to short mid-wicket as the fourth wicket 37-run partnership came to an end.

Piyush Chawla of the Kolkata Knight Riders celebrates bowling Shreyas Iyer of the Delhi Daredevils. Photograph: BCCI

Yuvraj's brief stay at the crease also came to an end in what looked like a funny stumping off Chawla after the left-hander had lost sight of the white ball while attempting a sweep and wicketkeeper Robin Uthappa was sharp to take the bails off only in the second attempt. 

Chawla (2-27) thus became the fourth bowler, and third spinner, to reach the 100 wickets milestone in the IPL.

The Kolkata bowlers continued to hurt the Delhi batting after Umesh Yadav got Kedar Jadhav (12) caught at backward point on the last ball of his third over.

But Mathews got stuck into Narine, hitting the off-spinner for two consecutive sixes and ended the 19th over with a boundary to get 20 runs of the West Indians' final over. 

Nathan Coulter-Nile was run out in the final over of the innings and Mathews was caught behind off the final delivery with Yadav ending with impressive figures of 2-18. 

Robin Uthappa of the Kolkata Knight Riders attempts to turn back as Domnic Joseph Muthuswamy of the Delhi Daredevils closes in. Photograph: BCCI

Chasing an achievable target Kolkata got off to a quick start, Robin Uthappa (13) and Gautam Gambhir adding 31 runs (off just 25 balls) for the opening wicket.

However, Domnic Muthuswamy struck twice in his second over, the fifth of the Kolkata innings, to bring Delhi back into the contest. He first had Uthappa caught by Duminy at mid-off and three balls later, had Manish Pandey (0) caught by Imran Tahir at third man.

Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav (24) added 48 runs (off only 31 balls) for the third wicket. However, just when things looked to have settled down for Kolkata, Nathan Coulter-Nile had the latter caught behind. 

Thereafter, Yusuf joined his captain and both took Kolkata closer to win. By the time Imran Tahir got past Gambhir's defenses it was too late. 

Ryan ten Doeschate hit the winnings runs two balls later. 

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