Commanding win for Kolkata Knight Riders

Yusuf Pathan hit a quick-fire unbeaten 47 as KKR thumped Deccan Chargers by 20 runs.

It was a listless performance from Deccan Chargers. And, it was no surprise as Kolkata Knight Riders recorded a 20-run win in the Indian Premier League at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Tuesday night.

With this win, Knight Riders has 12 points from nine games and joins Mumbai Indians (eight games) at the top. Chargers is stuck with six points from nine games.

DOUBLE BLOW

Chasing 170 from 20 overs, the home team suffered a double blow in the sixth over when left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla forced Sunny Sohal to slash straight to point and then deceived Kumar Sangakarra in flight and length who pushed one straight to Jacques Kallis at mid-wicket to reduce the home team to 41 for two in six overs.

Then, it was the turn of the deceptive gentle medium-pace of Rajat Bhatia to pick up two wickets in one over — cleaning up Cameron White and trapping Daniel Christian lbw — to leave the crowd stunned as the score read 70 for four in 10.5 overs.

Then, the fifth wicket stand of 56 between opener Shikhar Dhawan and Ravi Teja only delayed the inevitable.

SLOPPY FIELDING

Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders, put in to bat, thrived on sloppy fielding and the biggest beneficiary was the dangerous Yusuf Pathan. He was dropped when on three at deep mid-wicket by Amit Mishra off Pragyan Ojha and then Mishra himself had the misfortune of seeing Daniel Christian floor another mistimed hit in the deep when Yusuf was on 12.

Surely, not a fielding effort which captain Kumar Sangakkara would have looked for when he put the opposition in. Consequently, the Kolkata outfit posted a challenging 169 for four in 20 overs.

Once Christian had Eoin Morgan bowled, playing all over in the sixth over, a 43-run stand between opener Jacques Kallis and captain Gautam Gambhir ensured that the run-rate never really dipped to alarming proportions.

Just when both looked set for big scores, Kallis holed out to the deep off Mishra and Gambhir could not resist the temptation to cut too close to the stumps and was caught behind smartly by Sangakkara.

POWER HITTING

If Chargers thought it was back in the game at 84 for three in 11.4 overs, it was not to be, primarily because of its shoddy fielding. Yusuf made full use of the generosity and belted the bowlers around with typical nonchalance.

The brute power was enough to see the ball sail over the fence and his influence on Manoj Tiwary at the other end was such that the latter also stood up and pulled Christian for a huge six.

The 80-run stand between Yusuf and Tiwary off just 50 balls handed the momentum to the Kolkata innings as 59 of them came in the last five overs for the loss of Tiwary in the final over.