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Ganguly leads Kolkata to brilliant win over Delhi

Skipper Sourav Ganguly led from the front as Kolkata Knight Riders registered a superb 14-run victory over Delhi Daredevils at the Eden Gardens here on Wednesday night.

Chasing 182 for victory, Delhi could manage only 167 for eight in their 20 overs.

Batting first, Ganguly hit his sixth IPL half-century to help Kolkata Knight Riders notch 181 for three in their 20 overs.

Ganguly hit a 46-ball 56 with eight fours and one six and put on 94 runs for the opening wicket with Chris Gayle (40 from 21 balls) while Matthews (46 off 28) starred in a 70-run unbeaten stand with Manoj Tiwary (26) in less than seven overs even though the home side fell well short of the 200-mark that seemed possible at one stage.

Opting to bat, Kolkata Knight Riders had a breezy start with Ganguly and Gayle not allowing the Daredevils bowlers to settle down and at one point, the home side, cheered on by a jam-packed crowd, were cruising along at 11-plus an over.

But the Daredevils got into their act with some fine bowling by Rajat Bhatia (one for 30) and Daniel Vettori (one for 30) to take three quick wickets — Gayle, Ganguly and Brendon McCullum (6) — to apply the brake.

However, some sensible batting from Mathews and Tiwary towards the end took the Knight Riders to a respectable total.

Gambhir’s gamble of beginning the proceedings with Vettori backfired as Ganguly plundered the left-arm spinner for 15 runs to take the run-rate over 10.

Dishing out some sheer timing and late cuts, Ganguly hit three fours in Vettori’s first over and Gambhir had to take the New Zealander out of the attack.

But the opening duo did not look in any trouble at tall and kept on dissecting their field with Ganguly taking the charge, while Gayle opting to show some restraint. It was only in Amit Mishra’s first over that Ganguly struggled and almost had his defence crashed to a perfect googly.

Till then, Gayle was a mute spectator at the other end, only to explode in the leg-spinner’s second over as he walloped one six and two boundaries in the seventh over which yielded 15 runs.

Just when he was beginning to look dangerous, Bhatia deceived Gayle with a slower one that knocked off the off-stump.

SCORECARD

Kolkata Knight Riders

S Ganguly b Vettori 56

C Gayle b Bhatia 40

B McCullum run out 6

M Tiwary not out 26

A Mathews not out 46

Extras (lb 1, w 6) 7 Total (3 wickets; 20 overs) 181

Did not bat: CA Pujara, WP Saha†, AB Agarkar, Iqbal Abdulla, AB Dinda, BAW Mendis

Fall of wickets: 1-94 (Gayle, 10.2 ov), 2-104 (Ganguly, 11.5 ov), 3-111 (McCullum, 13.1 ov)

Bowling: Maharoof 3-0-30-0, Vettori 4-0-30-1 , Sangwan 3-0-30-0, Mishra 4-0-41-0 , Collingwood 2-0-19-0 , Bhatia 4-0-30-1

Delhi Daredevils

DA Warner b Dinda 0

V Sehwag b Agarkar 64

G Gambhir run out 47

P Collingwood c Mathews b Mendis 2

D Karthik c McCullum b Dinda 20

K Jadhav c Ganguly b Mendis 5

F Maharoof b Iqbal Abdulla 2

R Bhatia run out 2

D Vettori not out 12

A Mishra not out 4

Extras (b 1, lb 4, w 4) 9

Total (8 wickets; 20 overs) 167

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Warner, 0.5 ov), 2-99 (Gambhir, 10.3 ov), 3-103 (Collingwood, 11.3 ov), 4-134 (Sehwag, 14.5 ov), 5-144 (Jadhav, 16.3 ov), 6-147 (Maharoof, 17.1 ov), 7-149 (Bhatia, 17.4 ov), 8-152 (Karthik, 18.2 ov)

Bowling: Dinda 4-0-21-2, Agarkar 4-0-36-1, Mathews 3-0-43-0, Mendis 4-0-22-2, Ganguly 1-0-12-0, Iqbal Abdulla 4-0-28-1