IPL-4: Clinical Kolkata crush Kings XI Punjab by eight wickets

Kings XI Punjab lost their grip after a brilliant start as Kolkata Knight Riders restricted them to 119 for six at the Eden Gardens on Saturday.

Put into bat under damp conditions following a spell of showers in the afternoon, the Mohali outfit began dangerously with skipper Adam Gilchrist giving a rollicking start,  taking the attack Brett Lee. Just when the KXIP top-order looked to explode, Iqbal Abdulla (2/19) and Yusuf Pathan (1/24) put the brakes on their progress.

Dinesh Karthik played a responsible run-a-ball innings of 42 laced with four boundaries. But, in trying to improve the run-rate in the death overs, he ran himself out, KXIP’s third of the day, to set a seemingly easy target for the home side.

After a watchful start, Gilchrist hit Lee for a six and a four in one over to set the tempo for KXIP. Gilchrist looked in fine touch to put pressure on KKR. With 22 for no loss after three overs, KXIP had set the ball rolling but could not sustain the momentum against Knight Riders’ spinners. The duo of Pathan and Abdulla not only slowed down the run-rate but they did well in dismissing the dangerous looking KXIP top three — Valthaty (7), Shaun Marsh (5) and Gilchrist (26) — for the addition of just 12 runs.

From 32 for no loss after 4.2 overs, KXIP were reduced to 44 for three after 7.5 overs as Knight Riders did a superb turnaround. Off-spinner Pathan extracted good bounce and turn, while Abdulla was equally tidy with his left-arm spin.

Pathan gave the breakthrough, scalping Valthaty while in the very next over the in-form Marsh perished as a misunderstanding with Gilchrist resulted to a run-out.

The worse followed soon when Abdulla bowled Gilchrist in between the legs to open up the KXIP middle-order. Another run out followed — this time of Abhishek Nayar (0) — as KXIP were reduced to 53 for four after 9.2 overs. The series of dismissals after a fine start meant that KXIP could score only 15 in five overs as it was left for Karthik and David Hussey to do the repair work. In a much needed partnership, the duo added 31 from 34 balls to push the total before Hussey, a former Knight Riders, became Abdulla’s second victim, falling for 15.

Scorecard
Kings XI Punjab: A Gilchrist b I Abdulla 26, P Valthaty c Tiwary b Pathan 7, S Marsh run out (Goswami/I Abdulla) 5, D Karthik run out (Pathan/Goswami) 42, A Nayar run out (Morgan/Goswami) 0, D Hussey lbw b I Abdulla 15, B Sharma not out 16, P Kumar not out 2
Extras: (B1, W5) 6; Total: (6 wickets; 20 overs) 119; FoW: 1-32 (Valthaty, 4.3 ov), 2-40 (Marsh, 5.6 ov), 3-44 (Gilchrist, 7.5 ov), 4-53 (Nayar, 9.2 ov), 5-86 (Hussey, 14.6 ov), 6-117 (Karthik, 19.4 ov); Bowling: B Lee 4-0-27-0 (W1), L Balaji 3-0-21-0, I Abdulla 4-0-19-2, Y Pathan 4-0-24-1 (W1), R Bhatia 4-0-18-0 (W1), M Tiwary 1-0-9-0 (W1) 

Match Scorecard