Kolkata Knight Riders beat Daredevils by 17 runs

Middle-order batsman Manoj Tiwary and left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah starred in Kolkata Knight Riders’ comfortable 17-run victory over Delhi Daredevils in the IPL on Thursday.

Tiwary made 61 not out and Abdullah bagged 3-25 as Delhi could score only 131-9 in reply to Kolkata’s 148-7.

Captain Virender Sehwag (34) and Australia allrounder James Hopes (25) provided some hope but the home side could not remain in the hunt on a Ferozeshah Kotla pitch not conducive to strokeplay.

“No one took responsibility to take the team through,” Sehwag said. “I am trying different combinations, different batsmen and different bowlers, but it is not working.”

The win lifted Kolkata to joint second alongside Chennai Super Kings with eight points from seven games, while Delhi remained at the bottom of the table with four from seven.

The Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai Indians top the table with 10 points from six games.

Put in to bat, Kolkata managed a decent total thanks to former Delhi Daredevils player Tiwary.

Tiwary, coming in at No. 4, scored an undefeated 61 off 47 balls with three sixes and two fours. His best partnership was for the third wicket with captain Gautam Gambhir (18), who came in at No. 3 rather than opening the innings as usual.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Sreevats Goswami (22), who opened along with Jacques Kallis, and Dutch allrounder Ryan ten Doeschate (19) also contribute substantially.

Delhi seamers Umesh Yadav and Irfan Pathan helped restrict Kolkata.

Yadav produced a double-strike in the 15th over when he had big-hitting Yusuf Pathan caught by Irfan Pathan at long-on and then had England batsman Eoin Morgan caught behind off the next delivery.

Pathan removed Kallis (11), bowled from behind the legs with a lovely inswinger early in the innings, and finished with an economical 1-16 in four overs.

Delhi’s chase went off track early.

Sehwag made 34 off 23 balls and Hopes got 25 from 30 but the team was reduced to 85-6 in the 15th over as Abdullah ran through the middle order, his haul including the important wickets of Hopes and Pathan.

Venugopal Rao and Yogesh Nagar got 19 each toward the end, but it proved to be too little, too late.

On Friday, Rajasthan Royals play Mumbai Indians at Jaipur and Royal Challengers Bangalore take on visiting Pune.

SCOREBOARD

Kolkata Knight Riders:
Jacques Kallis b Pathan 11
Shreevats Goswami c Ojha b Agarkar 22
Gautam Gambhir c Venugopal Rao b Hopes 18
Manoj Tiwary not out 57
Yusuf Pathan c Irfan Pathan b Yadav 5
Eoin Morgan c Ojha b Yadav 0
Ryan ten Doeschate c Pathan b Morkel 19
Brett Lee run out (Nagar/Ojha) 1
Lakshmipathy Balaji not out 3
Extras (lb 2, w 6) 8
Total (for seven wickets in 20 overs) 148

Fall of wickets: 1-29 (Kallis, 4.3 overs), 2-42 (Goswami, 6.1), 3-82
(Gambhir, 11.5), 4-105 (Pathan, 14.5), 5-105 (Morgan, 14.6), 6-140
(ten Doeschate, 18.6), 7-145 (Lee, 19.5)

Bowling:
Irfan Pathan 4-0-16-1
Morne Morkel 4-0-42-1
Umesh Yadav 4-0-29-2
Ajit Agarkar 4-0-34-1
James Hopes 4-0-25-1

Delhi Daredevils:
David Warner b Balaji 2
Virender Sehwag c Balaji b Unadkat 34
James Hopes not out 19
Irfan Pathan c ten Doeschate b Abdulla 9
Travis Birt c sub (Shakib) b Pathan 8
Y Venugopal Rao run out (Goswami/Lee) 19
Naman Ojha c Lee b Abdulla 1
Yogesh Nagar c Goswami b Balaji 19
Ajit Agarkar run out (Balaji/Lee) 0
Morne Morkel not out 6
Umesh Yadav not out 1
Extras (b 3, w 4) 7
Total (for nine wickets in 20 overs) 131

Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Warner, 1.6 overs), 2-43 (Sehwag, 6.4), 3-61
(Pathan, 10.3), 4-75 (Birt, 13.1), 5-83 (Hopes, 14.2), 6-85 (Ojha, 14.5), 7-123
(Venugopal Rao, 18.2), 8-123 (Agarkar, 18.3), 9-130 (Nagar, 19.5)

Bowling:
Brett Lee 4-0-24-0
Lakshmipathy Balaji 4-0-38-2
Jaydev Unadkat 4-0-24-1
Iqbal Abdulla 4-0-25-3
Jacques Kallis 2-0-11-0
Yusuf Pathan 2-0-6-1

Toss: Delhi Daredevils, who chose to field
Result: Knight Riders won by 17 runs
Umpires: Paul Reiffel (Australia) and Rod Tucker (Australia)
TV umpire: Sudhir Asnani (India)
Match referee: Javagal Srinath (India)