Publications
Partners
Kolkata - Robin Uthappa has continued his astonishing run of form in the IPL with a contribution of 83 from just 51 balls to lead the Kolkata Knight Riders to a commanding total victory by 30 runs in their match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore at Eden Gardens on Thursday.
The supersport.com website reports that the Knight Riders far exceeded the ‘par’ score at Eden Gardens with 195-5 and, led once again by the irrepressible and unreadable Sunil Narine, restricted the visitors to 165-5in reply to eliminate them from play-off contention and book their own place in the top four.
Uthappa passed Glen Maxwell as the tournament’s leading run scorer and has now been instrumental in each of the Knight Riders six successive victories which have given them the chance of a second title.
The stylish right hander also passed SA’s HD Ackerman’s record for the most consecutive scores above 40 in domestic T20 cricket with his eighth in a run which reads: 47, 65, 47, 46, 80, 40, 67 and today’s unbeaten 83.
A third wicket partnership of 121 with Bangladeshi star Shakib al Hasan would appear to have put the game beyond the visitors with Eden Gardens rarely yielding more than 160 in the second innings. Shakib struck a sensational 60 from only 38 deliveries during an innings which came alive in the 13th over when he took 24, including three sixes, off legspinner’s Yuzvendra Chahal’s final over to leave him with figures of 0-50.
The Knight Riders began inauspiciously when captain Gautam Gambhir (4) edged Mitchell Starc behind in the first over and Manish Pandey (13) slashed Ashok Dinda to third man. Yusuf Pathan bludgeoned a pair of sixes in 22 from 13 balls before being adjudged run out despite replays which appeared inconclusive.
But nobody was complaining among the home fans after Uthappa had kept the scoreboard moving with ten fours and a six. Shakib added five fours to the trio of maximums off the unfortunate Chahal.
Royal Challengers lost the hopelessly out-of-sorts Chris Gayle (6 off 9 balls) but opening partner Yogesh Takawale made a spirited charge with 45 from 36 balls. Narine then took over.
The brilliant Trinidadian bowled Takawale before removing the vaunted trio of Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and AB de Villiers to finish with the extraordinary analysis of 4-0-20-4. Kohli cut one too close to him to short third man, Yuvraj lofted to long on and de Villiers missed a ‘wrong un’ and was bowled.
Teams:
Kolkata Knight Riders: RV Uthappa (wicketkeeper), G Gambhir (captain), MK Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, YK Pathan, RN ten Doeschate, SA Yadav, R Vinay Kumar, M Morkel, UT Yadav, SP Narine
Royal Challengers Bangalore: CH Gayle, YV Takawale (wicketkeeper), V Kohli (captain), Yuvraj Singh, AB de Villiers, S Rana, MA Starc, AN Ahmed, AB Dinda, YS Chahal, M Muralitharan
The supersport.com website reports that the Knight Riders far exceeded the ‘par’ score at Eden Gardens with 195-5 and, led once again by the irrepressible and unreadable Sunil Narine, restricted the visitors to 165-5in reply to eliminate them from play-off contention and book their own place in the top four.
Uthappa passed Glen Maxwell as the tournament’s leading run scorer and has now been instrumental in each of the Knight Riders six successive victories which have given them the chance of a second title.
The stylish right hander also passed SA’s HD Ackerman’s record for the most consecutive scores above 40 in domestic T20 cricket with his eighth in a run which reads: 47, 65, 47, 46, 80, 40, 67 and today’s unbeaten 83.
A third wicket partnership of 121 with Bangladeshi star Shakib al Hasan would appear to have put the game beyond the visitors with Eden Gardens rarely yielding more than 160 in the second innings. Shakib struck a sensational 60 from only 38 deliveries during an innings which came alive in the 13th over when he took 24, including three sixes, off legspinner’s Yuzvendra Chahal’s final over to leave him with figures of 0-50.
The Knight Riders began inauspiciously when captain Gautam Gambhir (4) edged Mitchell Starc behind in the first over and Manish Pandey (13) slashed Ashok Dinda to third man. Yusuf Pathan bludgeoned a pair of sixes in 22 from 13 balls before being adjudged run out despite replays which appeared inconclusive.
But nobody was complaining among the home fans after Uthappa had kept the scoreboard moving with ten fours and a six. Shakib added five fours to the trio of maximums off the unfortunate Chahal.
Royal Challengers lost the hopelessly out-of-sorts Chris Gayle (6 off 9 balls) but opening partner Yogesh Takawale made a spirited charge with 45 from 36 balls. Narine then took over.
The brilliant Trinidadian bowled Takawale before removing the vaunted trio of Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and AB de Villiers to finish with the extraordinary analysis of 4-0-20-4. Kohli cut one too close to him to short third man, Yuvraj lofted to long on and de Villiers missed a ‘wrong un’ and was bowled.
Teams:
Kolkata Knight Riders: RV Uthappa (wicketkeeper), G Gambhir (captain), MK Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, YK Pathan, RN ten Doeschate, SA Yadav, R Vinay Kumar, M Morkel, UT Yadav, SP Narine
Royal Challengers Bangalore: CH Gayle, YV Takawale (wicketkeeper), V Kohli (captain), Yuvraj Singh, AB de Villiers, S Rana, MA Starc, AN Ahmed, AB Dinda, YS Chahal, M Muralitharan
