Press Trust of India
New Delhi, April 20: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Gautam Gambhir (60, 49b, 8×4) led from the front to inspire his side to victory by six wickets over Delhi Daredevils (DD) in a match of IPL-VIII here at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground Monday. After restricting DD to a below par 146 for eight in 20 overs, KKR riding on Gambhir’s knock and his fourth wicket partnership of 65 runs with Yusuf Pathan (40 n o, 26b, 6×4, 1×6) romped home with 11 balls to spare.
This was Gambhir’s third half century in four games for KKR – a performance that will certainly make the national selectors sit up and watch – more so with the T20 World Cup coming up in India next year. Equally comfortable against spin and pace, Gambhir batted with a lot of elan hitting shots all round the park. After Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey had fallen within the space of three balls, the KKR skipper held the innings together. He fell with only three runs remaining for victory – chopping Imran Tahir on to his stumps.
Earlier DD, after being put in, never looked like putting up a good score. They lost wickets at regular intervals as Gambhir handled the bowlers astutely on a pitch that was ‘un’Kotla like and had some bounce. It was only due to the efforts of Angelo Mathews (28, 21b, 1×4, 2×6) that they managed to get close to the 150-run mark.
The Sri Lankan launched into Sunil Narine (1/38) when the bowler came to bowl the 19th over of the innings – an over in which he conceded 20 runs. Mathews hit him for two sixes and a boundary – all in the arc between deep mid-wicket and long-on. But then Umesh Yadav (2/18) bowled a fantastic last over in which he just conceded two runs and DD failed to cross the 150-run barrier.
Yadav, Morne Morkel (2/30) and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla (2/27) bowled very well and never let the Delhi batsmen of the hook. Quite a few of them got starts but failed to convert them into big scores. Shreyas Iyer (31, 24b, 3×4, 1×6), Yuvraj Singh (21, 19b, 1×4, 1×6) and Manoj Tiwary (32, 28b, 5×4) flattered to deceive as the Knights chipped away wickets at regular intervals. They were backed up by some excellent fielding and that made the batsmen’s job more difficult.
Brief Scores
DD 146 for eight (Manoj Tiwary 32; Umesh Yadav 2/18, Piyush Chawla 2/26) lost to KKR 147 for four (Gautam Gambhir 60, Yusuf Pathan 40 n o) by six wickets.
