More reason to celebrate for city of joy's cricket lovers as Kolkata Knight Rriders roll over Deccan Chargers at Hyderabad post Dada's IPL IV entry
More reason to celebrate for city of joy's cricket lovers as Kolkata Knight Riders roll over Deccan Chargers at Hyderabad post Dada'su00a0IPL IVu00a0entryKolkata Knight Riders defeated Deccan Chargers by 20 runs in their Indian Premier League match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here last night.
News of the win provided another dose of joy for cricket crazy Kolkata which was celebrating the entry ofu00a0 Sourav Ganguly in the fourth edition of the IPL. Ganguly, who was snubbed by all 10 franchises at the auction earlier in the year, finally made it to a squad. The former India captain will represent Pune Warriors.
Kolkata Knight Riders bowler Rajat Bhatia (centre, smiling) celebrates
with his teammates after dismissing Deccan Chargers' Australian
all-rounder Cameron White for 13 during the IPL Twenty 20 match at
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad yesterday. PIC/AFPBack to the KKR vs Deccan game. Yusuf Pathan smashed an unbeaten 47 and Iqbal Abdulla grabbed two quick wickets as Kolkata Knight Riders triumphed under lights.
Pathan hit three sixes and as many fours in his 26-ball knock to help Kolkata reach 169-4 before left-arm spinner Abdulla got two wickets in three balls to restrict Deccan to 149-6. It was Kolkata's sixth victory and Deccan's sixth defeat in nine matches of the Twenty20 tournament.
Kolkata and Mumbai now jointly lead the 10-team league table with 12 points, followed by Rajasthan (11), Chennai (10), Bangalore (nine), Kochi (eight), Deccan (six), Delhi (six), Punjab (six) and Pune (four).
Abdulla put Deccan under pressure in his second over when he dismissed opener Sunny Sohal (26) and skipper Kumar Sangakkara, who failed to open his account.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan top-scored for Deccan with a 45-ball 54 before being bowled by South African paceman Jacques Kallis in the 18th over.
He added 56 for the fifth wicket with Ravi Teja (30). Pathan, dropped twice during his brisk knock, and Manoj Tiwary (33) earlier helped Kolkata set a challenging target as they added 80 runs in eight overs for the fourth wicket. Kolkata were 84-3 in the 12th over after Kallis and skipper Gautam Gambhir (35) fell in the space of four deliveries before making a strong finish, thanks to middle-order batsmen Pathan and Tiwary.
Gambhir, who exchanged words with Australian seamer Daniel Christian, hit one six and three fours in his 22-ball knock while Kallis cracked four boundaries in his 31-ball innings.
