Kolkata http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Knight-c71599 Riders Beat Kings XI Punjab: IPL4 - Match Recap
Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders have beaten actress Preity Zinta’s Kings XI Punjab in the 37th match of the ongoing fourth version of the Indian Premier League (IPL) by eight wickets. The anticipated match was played at the
Eden Gardens, Kolkata on April 30, 2011.
KKR, who are doing very well this year, certainly did not want to lose in front of their home crowd. With this thought in the back of their minds, KKR won the toss and elected to field in a bid to bowl first on a wicket which was expected to turn a bit.
To everyone’s surprise the wicket was showing a lot more turn than was previously expected and this literally unnerved the Punjab openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Paul-Valthaty-c2170. It was Yusuf Pathan who in the fifth over made inroads by snatching the wicket of
Vathaty as the batsman gave a sharp catch to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Manoj-Tiwary-c1890 at long-on. He scored seven runs off eight deliveries.
On the last delivery of the next over, Punjab lost Shaun Marsh on a run out as he and Gilchrist gave some sloppy running between the wickets. Marsh had scored just five runs. An over later, Gilchrist’s stumps were shattered by Iqbal Abdulla as the batsman
completely missed to time a slow delivery. Gilly had scored 26 runs on 27 deliveries.
With skipper Gilchrist gone, Punjab had little to celebrate as hopes of posting a large total on the board faded with each passing delivery. In the 10th over, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dinesh-c54134 Karthik, who was looking well settled on the crease after scoring a run a ball
on 42 deliveries, got himself entangled in a run out. With him gone there was probably no one left in the dressing room to hit his way to a formidable score. At the end of the first innings, Kings XI could only give a 120 run target to the opposition.
With an achievable tally in their sights, KKR knew that they had every chance of taking a win from this game. All they needed to do was to keep wickets in hand and runs would come eventually.
Perhaps the only worry for KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir must have been the dangerous spin that the wicket was offering. The apprehension was not unfounded and KKR’s phenomenal opener, Jacques Kallis, lost his wicket after scoring just a run on a delivery bowled
by Bhargav Bhatt. Kallis did not expect the amount of spin that the delivery got after pitching on the wicket as he ended up giving a high catch to David Hussey at cover.
The dismissal of Kallis was a sight of jubilation for the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Punjab-c833 players as the crowd went quiet watching their ace batsman walk back to the pavilion.
Two overs later, Eion Morgan followed his opening partner back to the pavilion after scooping a delivery to deep midwicket. The catch was a difficult one as Ryan Harris had to sprint from the deep to take a low catch. Bhatt was the man who claimed this wicket
as well. Morgan’s short innings included 28 runs off 15 deliveries in which he hit four boundaries.
Punjab needed to make more of such efforts if they had any plans to win the game and the score was never big enough to put KKR under any pressure.
However, Punjab’s hopes for a victory were shattered when skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gautam-Gambhir-c58623 and Manoj Tiwary became an iron wall in front the Punjab bowlers. The two batsmen steadied themselves early on and understood how to make the best out of the pitch.
The two batsmen cruised towards the required target and managed to grab a well deserved victory with 16 deliveries still remaining.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Iqbal-Abdulla-c1596 was named the Man of the Match for snatching two crucial wickets and conceding only 19 runs in his four overs.
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