Continuing their supremacy at home, defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders rode on Piyush Chawla's match-winning four-wicket haul to beat Delhi Daredevils by 13 runs in a lop-sided IPL 8 match at the Eden Gardens on Thursday.
DD's pursuit of 172 was given a severe blow when the Chawla (4/32) claimed the wickets of Kedar Jadhav, Yuvraj Singh and JP Duminy in two overs. It reduce DD to 111-5 in the 16th over as the visitors could never recover from the blow and were restricted to 158/6.
This was DD's seventh loss of the season as they slipped to seventh position in the points table and their hopes of qualification for the last four is all but over. With a second successive win at home, KKR (13 points), on the other hand, brightened their playoff hopes as they jumped past Royal Challengers Bangalore to occupy third place.
IPL 8: KKR v/s DD - KKR win by 13 runs thanks to Piyush Chawla's four-wicket haul
Earlier, Yusuf Pathan once again held KKR's innings together with 42 off 24 balls (3x4, 3x6) before Johan Botha blasted 17 from five balls (4x4) in the last over to lift them to a fighting 171/7. Playing with an extra bowler after Sunil Narine got clearance from the BCCI to bowl in the game, Chawla came in to bat at No 4 and contributed with a useful 22 from 19 balls.
DD promoted Manoj Tiwary to open the innings but the local lad failed to deliver. Though Shreyas Iyer (40) looked at ease at the other end, Tiwary played as many as 15 dot balls during his painful 28-ball stay and by the time he departed, the run-rate had shot up to 10.80.
Iyer was later foxed by Hogg's guile and dragged the ball onto his off-stump. He looked impressive in his fifth 40 score - the first from an uncapped player - but Tiwary's pathetic innings triggered DD's slow downfall as KKR tightened the noose with their battery of spinners.
