New Delhi: Manoj Tiwary made a resilient unbeaten 61 off 47
balls as Kolkata Knight Riders beat the Delhi Daredevils by 17 runs at their
Feroz Shah Kotla home ground in the Indian Premier Legue (IPL) match played
here Thursday.
Choosing to field, the Daredevils' much
criticised bowling attack finally got their act together and restricted Knight
Riders to 148/7 in 20 overs. But the hosts' chase was stopped at 131/9 thanks
to some reckless stroke play by their batsmen.
Iqbal Abdullah emerged the best bowler
of the Knight Riders with 3-25, while Lakshmipathy Balaji took 2-38.
Skipper Virender Sehwag, after winning
the toss, had spoken of their capability of chasing any score if he and David
Warner got going. But Warner was bowled by Balaji in the second over while
attempting to cut and after that, things never looked up for Daredevils.
Sehwag, with James Hopes (25), did give
flight to Daredevils hopes during their 29-run partnership for the second
wicket. Sehwag, particularly, looked dangerous during his 23- ball innings,
smacking five fours and a six before Jaidev Unadkat struck.
The Delhi dasher looked bewildered by
Unadkat's bouncer and mistimed a pull and Balaji made no mistake in taking the
catch. The rest of the Daredevils batsmen simply crumbled under the pressure.
Irfan Pathan conceded only 16 runs in his four overs and also gave the hosts the breakthrough by taking the wicket of the dangerous Jacques Kallis.
Irfan Pathan conceded only 16 runs in his four overs and also gave the hosts the breakthrough by taking the wicket of the dangerous Jacques Kallis.
Umesh Yadav bowled fast for his 2-29 and
even Ajit Agarkar impressed by picking the wicket of Shreevats Goswami off his
first delivery and then bowling a tight last over.
Ironically, it was Daredevils' best
bowler so far in the tournament who had the most forgettable day. Morne Morkel,
who has been the backbone of Daredevils bowling, was tonked for 42 runs in his
four overs, with the wicket of Ryan ten Doeschate his only solace.
The lanky South African was sent for 13
runs in his second over through three boundaries, with Kallis hitting him
through the covers and point in consecutive deliveries.
It was Irfan Pathan who broke the 29-run
opening stand of Kallis (11) and Goswami (22) by knocking the leg stump of the
South African. Kallis failed to gauge the delivery, which came in and was
bowled while attempting a flick.
Agarkar, who was introduced in the
seventh over, dismissed Goswami in his very first ball when the opener got a
nick while trying to steer a wide-ish delivery and wicketkeeper Naman Ojha
dived to his left to gobble up the catch.
Skipper Gautam Gambhir (18), who till
last year played for the Daredevils, looked dangerous during his 35 minute stay
and with Tiwary, weaved 40 runs for the third wicket. Gambhir
was given a life when Irfan dropped a top edge off Yadav at backward square
leg. He was at 8 at that time. However, he
didn't stay for long and was caught was at the deep midwicket by Venugopal Rao
while trying to clear Hopes over the boundary.
Tiwary held one end strong but Knight
Riders lost their best hitters Yusuf Pathan and Eoin Morgan off successive
deliveries of Yadav to slump to 105/5 at the end of the 14th over. Yusuf was
caught at long-on by brother Irfan while Morgan was bamboozled by a shorter one
and Ojha was swift to get under it for the catch.
Tiwary remained focused even as the
wickets fell at regular intervals. His entertaining innings included two fours
and three towering sixes. The first six came off Agarkar to deep square leg and
he soon followed it up with his another one to the shot leg side boundary in
the 13th over off the first ball of Morkel, who came to bowl his second spell. It
was then the turn of Yadav, who was punished over long-on in the 15th over.
Delhi bowlers, however, bowled well at
the death, with only three boundaries coming in the last three overs. Source: IANS
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