Kolkata Knight Riders beat Rajasthan Royals by 8 wickets
Kolkata: Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders beat Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets on Friday to keep their hopes afloat in the Pepsi Indian Premier League.
The struggling Yusuf Pathan reposed Gautam Gambhir’s faith as he finally returned to form with an unbeaten 49 (35 balls; 3×4, 3×6), his highest for the Knight Riders.
For the Royals, skipper Rahul Dravid’s decision to bat way down the order at No.7 did not help their cause as they were completely outplayed by the hosts.
Bisla stepped out to Chavan for a six over long-on in the third over, and in the next over, struck back to back boundaries off Watson as they raced to 35 for none in the fourth over.
Gambhir never seemed in a hurry as he was happy giving strike to Bisla. With the Royals desperate for a breakthrough, there was some heated exchange in the middle when Watson and Bisla engaged in a war of words as both the skippers joined in the middle.
A brilliant stumping of Gambhir by Dishant Yagnik, who stood up to Watson, broke the opening partnership. Bisla too followed suit which brought Pathan to the middle.
With Pathan taking on the Royals bowlers, Kallis was happy to take the singles as the duo put Knight Riders just 19 runs shy of the target.
Earlier, a spin-reliant KKR took full use of the sluggish Eden surface to restrict Rajasthan Royals to a modest 132 for six.
Sanju Samson (40, 1×4, 2×6) was the top-scorer for Royals while Shane Watson made run-a-ball 35 as both shared 44-run third-wicket partnership after the visitors were reduced to 27 for two.
Opting to bat, Dravid too had some interesting strategy up his sleeve when he sent James Faulkner at No.3 after Ajinkya Rahane (6) was foxed by Senanayake in an attempt to step out. The move, however, did not work as Faulkner (1) was dismissed in the next over with the Royals pace spearhead becoming Abdulla’s first victim.
Watson remained at the crease as he alongwith Samson re-built their innings with the rookie Kerala youngster showing a positive temperament.
