|
Kolkata, April 17: Skipper Sourav Ganguly (75 not out; 50 balls, 11x4, 2x6) and Cheteshwar Pujara (45 not out; 38 balls, 5x4, 1x6) steered the Kolkata Knight Riders to an emphatic eight-wicket victory over the Rajasthan Royals in Match 53 of the IPL 2010 at Eden Gardens here on Saturday night.
The brilliant Ganguly, who reached his 50 off 39 balls (8x4, 1x6), and the steady Pujara were involved in a match-winning 111-run partnership for the third wicket in 13.2 overs. Kolkata Knight Riders chased down the target of a 133 runs in 16.1 overs.
This was Kolkata Knight Riders’ sixth victory from 13 matches and thereby kept their semi-finals hopes alive. They have 12 points and play their last league match against table-toppers Mumbai Indians at the same venue on Monday. With this win the Kolkata Knight Riders climbed to sixth position in the leaders board, pushing down the Rajasthan Royals to the seventh spot. The Shane Warne-led Rajasthan Royals suffered their eighth defeat as they completed their league engagements. They have now finished with 12 points from 14 matches.
Early on the young left-arm medium pacer Jaidev Unadkat (3/26) rocked the Rajasthan Royals’ innings, helping restrict their total to a paltry 132/9 in 20 overs. The Rajasthan Royals though started on a bright note, with Shane Watson punishing the Kolkata Knight Riders attack as he made a 26-ball 44 with seven fours and one six. Laxmi Ratan Shukla cut short Watson’s innings by bowling him. The 18-year-old Unadkat began his fine spell by taking the wicket of opener Naman Ojha, who was out for 18. It was a diving effort by Shukla at point. The Saurashtra bowler then scalped his second wicket by sending back the dangerous Yusuf Pathan for 8, caught at mid-wicket by skipper Sourav Ganguly. Rajasthan Royals were reduced to 98/4 in 13.3 overs with Adam Voges being dismissed for 8. The Victorian Aaron Finch of Australia was bowled by Shane Bond for 21. Unadkat returned to capture his third wicket by dismissing Abhishek Raut (2). Thereafter Rajasthan Royals lost their way. Apart from Unadkat, both Shane Bond and Ashok Dinda bowled very well.
Rajasthan Royals’ left-arm seamer Kamran Khan silenced the Eden Gardens crowd by scalping the wickets of dashing New Zealand batsman Brendon McCullum (6) and West Indian captain Chris Gayle (0) in the space of two deliveries. McCullum pulled Khan straight to Watson at square-leg while Gayle was castled to put Kolkata Knight Riders in trouble at 22/2 in 2.5 overs. Ganguly and Pujara then had to go about repairing the damage with a fighting third wicket stand to steer the Kolkata Knight Riders to a morale-boosting win. Michael Lumb, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala and Amit Paunikar were left out by Rajasthan Royals. In their place, Aaron Finch, Paras Dogra and Faiz Fazal played. Kolkata Knight Riders too made some changes. Shane Bond, Murali Kartik, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Jaydev Unadkat were included in place of David Hussey, Iqbal Abdulla, Wriddhiman Saha and Ajit Agarkar.
Newer news items:
Older news items:
|
