 Ganguly steers Kolkata Knight Riders to victory
26th May 2008 08:00 IST
Agencies
Earlier, Kings XI rode on rollicking knocks by Kumar Sangakkara and Shaun Marsh to pile up an imposing 174/6.
Coming together after the early loss of James Hopes, the Aussie Marsh (40, 31b, 3x4, 2x6) and Sangakkara (64, 45 b, 7x4, 2x6) added a brisk 83 runs of only 57 deliveries to put their side in the drivers' seat.
Sangakkara was especially brilliant, letting loose several delicate shots all over the park earning huge applause from the spectators, who relished every minute of his brilliant batting.
Marsh, one of the prolific scorers of the tourney, executed some power-packed shots before holing out to long-off, giving Sri Lankan off-spinner Ajantha Mendis his first wicket of the IPL on his debut.
Young pacer Ishant Sharma, a find for the Indian team during their tour to Australia earlier this year, once again was lacklustre conceding 49 runs in his quota of four overs.
Gul (4/23), the pick of the Knight Riders bowlers, finally got rid of Sangakkara, as the Sri Lankan played across the line to a delivery that pitched on the good length spot and came further in and rapped the willower on the pad, as the visitors became 133/3.
Yuvraj (27; 3x4, 1x6) then played a cameo, adding 31 runs with Mahela Jayawardene (11 not out) before the former got run out following a horrible mix up.
The Kings XI seemed well positioned for a 180 plus total, as they reached 170/4 after the penultimate over, but Gul's superlative bowling at the death restricted them to a run rate of 8.7 per over.
Gul not only conceded only four runs, but also was on a hat-trick, as he picked up Pathan (7) and Chawla (0) of back-to-back deliveries. It was left to Tanmay Srivastava to thwart Gul's feat. |
