 Ganguly steers Kolkata Knight Riders to victory
26th May 2008 08:00 IST
Agencies
Skipper Sourav Ganguly led from the front with an unbeaten knock of 86 as the Kolkata Knight Riders snatched an unbelievable three-wicket win with two balls to spare against the formidable Kings XI Punjab to finish their below-par campaign in the Indian Premier League on a high in Kolkata Sunday night.
Replying to the Kings XI's competitive score of 174/6, the Knight Riders reached their winning target of 175, losing seven wickets in 19.4 overs in a nail-biting finish before a crowd of 30,000 at the Eden Gardens.
Man of the match Umar Gul (24; 11 balls, 1x4, 3x6), who also shone with the ball with figures of 4/23, turned the game upside down during a hurricane 49-run seventh-wicket stand with Ganguly after the Knight Riders seemed headed towards yet another defeat at 106/6.
As Irfan Pathan set out to bowl the last over, the hosts needed 15 runs, but Ganguly finished off the proceedings in a destructive manner, with a six, two, six and one to hand out the Kings XI their fourth defeat.
The Punjab side, already in the semifinals, remained on 18 points after 13 games.
Ganguly played a well-paced knock plundering half a dozen boundaries and an equal number of sixes during a 53-ball innings as the Knight Riders - already out of the tournament - chalked out their sixth victory to wrap up their engagements with 12 points.
The Knight Riders had a rare sound start, with the India-Pakistan left hand combination of skipper Ganguly and Salman Butt putting on 45 runs in only 5.2 overs. Ganguly made his aggressive intentions clear from the word go, as he pulled and cover-drove Pathan for two successive fours in the opening over that produced ten runs.
Butt took over from there, executing his signature-tune delicate wristy strokes, as also some magnificently driven cover drives that raised the prospects of a close match.
As Kings XI skipper Yuvraj Singh introduced spin in the form of Ramesh Powar in the fifth over, Ganguly danced down the track and hoisted him for a straight six.
But S Sreesanth, who became the highest wicket-taker in the IPL with a double wicket haul in Sunday's match, changed the complexion of the game in the next over. Sreesanth first forced Butt to play straight into the hands of short mid-on with a slower delivery, and was on a hat-trick as he got Debabrata Das (0) leg before in the next ball, as the Knight Riders were reduced to 45/2.
David Hussey (12) did not last long, as he was foxed by a Piyush Chawla googly, and when Laxmi Shukla (5) found his leg stump sent cart-wheeling by VRV Singh, the Knight Riders seemed to be staring down the barrel at 70/4 in 9.5 overs.
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