Kolkata defeated Chennai easily

CHENNAI: Knight Riders chasing a modest total of 139 lose an early wicket of McCullum. Gambhir and Kallis added 70 runs for the second wicket. Gambhir stand firm on one end and take Kolkata close to victory when he fells. He made 63 runs in 52 balls.

Chennai bowled tightly and did not allow Kolkata to run away with the game but they had very small total to defend. Despite losing wickets at crucial intervals Kolkata wins the game easily with 3 balls remaining.

Yousuf Pathan once again fails with the bat and got out on 12 runs. Ashwin and Bravo bowled beautifully and pick two wickets each.

Earlier Chennai won the toss and decided to bat first. Kolkata restricted Chennai to a meager 139 on a slow track. Kolkata uses their spinner’s beautifully with Lee bowling superbly at the other end.

Chennai was boosted by the return of Hussey. Hussey was their prominent performer in previous IPL editions. But he was able to make on 19 runs and become run out.

But Raina(44) and Dhoni (34) played sensibly to take Chennai a decent total. kallis picks two wickets while Lee and Narine one each.

Brief Scores:
Chennai Super Kings 139 for 5 (Raina 44, Dhoni 34*, Kallis 2-21)
Kolkata Knight Riders 140 for 5 (Gambhir 62, Ashwin 2-22)

Gambhir: Felt good, Chennai fought well, our boys did a good job restricting them to 139. We know we have a lot of potential and quality, we need to a complement each other. Das needs to be given the man of the match.

Dhoni: Hussey did well, got run-out so that wasn’t a bad decision, the surface is not allowing us to play our strokes, the spinners need to come into their own, most teams are doing well because of their spinners. It is not as if the pitch is bad but it is not suiting our strategy.