Kolkata earn hard-fought points

Posted By Anoop Dubey

April 23,2012

Kolkata Knight Riders 127 for 5 (Tiwary 30*, Steyn 2-24) beat Deccan Chargers 126 for 7 (Dhawan 50, Balaji 2-22) by five wickets

The Deccan Chargers bowlers strived to earn their side a maiden victory in this season of the IPL but, even on a slow pitch that turned, they did not have enough runs to defend. The upshot was a fifth consecutive defeat for the home side while Kolkata Knight Riders drew level with the other top teams in the tournament with their fourth win. The finish, however, was far more tense and hard fought than was expected after Chargers had been limited to only 126.

For the briefest of periods, Chargers looked like posting a stronger total. And then, though wickets did not fall in a heap, the scoring-rate began to splutter and the innings stuttered. The odd boundary would be followed by periods of low productivity, depriving Chargers of all momentum. The Knight Riders' chase followed a similar pattern - at no stage did the batsmen consistently dominate the bowling. However, they kept the situation under control by staying abreast with the asking-rate, ensuring the pressure did not get too intense to handle.

While Gautam Gambhir and Jacques Kallis were steering the chase, Knight Riders were in control. Then Gambhir mis-hit Anand Rajan to mid-off, leaving his team on 64 for 3 in 9.5 overs. Yusuf Pathan clouted one six off the spinner Ankit Sharma before trying to slog the next ball and getting bowled. Kallis, however, stayed calm and in the company of Manoj Tiwary took Knight Riders slowly but steadily towards their target.

Dhawan had anchored the innings but he too was going nowhere, and his struggle ended when he mis-hit a full toss from Rajat Bhatia to deep midwicket. He was gone for a run-a-ball 50. He would say later that the pitch was hard to bat on. Knight Riders also found batting tough, but they were tough enough to get over the line.