MOHALI: Gautam Gambhir played a captain’s beat as Kolkata Knight Rider’s exact sweet revenge on Kings XI Punjab with an easy 8-wicket win at the PCA Stadium here, on Wednesday night.
Adam Gilchrist selected to bat and his team could control just 124-7 in the face of some tight KKR bowling. The visit side then chased down the target in 16.3 overs, mainly through Gambhir, whose 44-ball 66 not out was lace with 7hits to the fence, and one beyond it.
Gambhir led from the front in two 53-run partnerships – at the top of the order with Brendon McCollum and an victorious one later with Jacques Kallis – as KKR faced no trouble in pleasing the modest task. The win was a reversal of the heart-breaking 2-run defeat that KKR had suffered at the hands of Punjab just a few days ago at the Eden Gardens. But the template for succeed was laid earlier, when Punjab stagger to 124 on a grassy pitch with some group in it. Not quite a belter and not really helpful to hitting across the line, the wicket sowed doubts in the minds of Punjab’s batsmen.
Paul Valthaty messed up his return game, slash a wide Brett Lee release to the wicket-keeper. Skipper Gilchrist kept the momentum, hammering boundaries through the leg-side before an unfortunate hamstring pull - brought about by a quick single - compelled him to retire, in the sixth over, just as Punjab were looking to step up the run rate. Kolkata’s bowlers then tighten the screws on Punjab. Sunil Narine was as stingy as ever, and added two to his bag of wickets late in the innings, but really the pick of the bowlers were L. Balaji (4-0-20-1) and Rajat Bhatia (4-0-23-1), who gave nothing away, thanks to an correct line.
Tight bowling on a helpful pitch destined that no partnerships were allowed to develop – the highest being 24, twice over. Once Gilchrist was out with injury, the onus of accelerate fell on the 2 remaining Aussies in the eleven – Shaun Marsh (33) and David Hussey.Marsh left in a huff when he edge to Manvinder Bisla at the back the wicket and the ‘keeper claimed the catch, though replays were indecisive if Bisla had taken it cleanly. Priety Zinta stood agitated on the sideline as Gilchrist stepped in to sort things out in the middle.
An implosion followed. Hussey was run out; Dimitri Mascarenhas and Paras Dogra were dismissed going for ugly heave. Gilchrist return in the 17th over and clout the only six of Kings XIPunjab’s innings, as the home team ended with a modest 124, at least 30-40 runs short of what would have been a viable total.
Man of the match:
Gautam Gambhir
Today Match
Daredevils v Chargers (16:00 local | 10:30 GMT)
Super Kings v Warriors (20:00 local | 14:30 GMT)
Daredevils v Chargers (16:00 local | 10:30 GMT)
Super Kings v Warriors (20:00 local | 14:30 GMT)
