Mohali: Things went from bad to worse for Kumar Sangakkara's Kings XI Punjab as they lost their third successive game at home on Saturday. Chasing 184, Punjab made 144-6 to give a comfortable win to the Kolkata Knight Riders.
The day belonged to Manoj Tiwary who bludgeoned an unbeaten 79 and then took a super catch to send back the dangerous Yuvraj Singh at the PCA stadium.
Punjab were never in the hunt with Kolkata striking in the first over and keeping a tight lid on the scoring from there on. Shane Bond trapped Ravi Bopara for no score and though Yuvraj Singh (24) belted a few blows, Kolkata were always in control. Especially after Yuvraj, who opened the batting, perished to Ajit Agarkar in the sixth over, Punjab never posed a threat.
Kumar Sangakkara (30) and Mahela Jayawardene (16) attempted to put up a fight but both eventually succumbed to the pressure. And by the time, Irfan Pathan came in the middle it was a little too late for Punjab.
Agarkar, playing his first game of the tournament, returned figures of two for 32 while Bond had figures of two for 24.
Earlier, The Kolkata Knight Riders finally batted like they were playing a 20-over game as Tiwary (79 not out) and skipper Sourav Ganguly (50) drove them to 183-5.
After Ganguly elected to bat, Chris Gayle got the Knight Riders off to a super start by pounding comeback man Brett Lee for 15 runs in the first over of the game. The Kolkata captain took over after Gayle fell for 14 and along with Tiwary added 79 runs in less than 10 overs.
Ganguly reached his fifty in the 14th over, his first in 16 IPL innings. His last half-century was in the inaugural edition in 2008. The southpaw smashed six boundaries and one six in his knock that ended when he tried to lift Irfan Pathan over long-off but was caught by Piyush Chawla.
David Hussey (three) failed to make a mark in his first game of IPL III as he was deceived by Chawla. However, Tiwary held one end up and reached his second IPL fifty and struck lusty blows in the end to power the Knight Riders to a formidable total. Tiwary belted eight fours and two sixes in his unconquered 47-ball innings.
The 39-run win escalated the Knight Riders to the fifth position in the points table.
0 comments:
Post a Comment