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Johannesburg - A half century from skipper Gautam Gambhir and an opening stand of 106 with Robin Uthappa helped the Kolkata Knight Riders to a comprehensive and much needed eight-wicket victory over the Delhi Daredevils in their Indian Premier League match at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi on Wednesday, the supersport.com website reports.
Chasing a competitive target of 161 on a pitch offering a little bounce and seam movement, Gambhir led the way with a superbly paced innings of 69 from just 56 deliveries with five fours and a pair of sixes until he edged Wayne Parnell to ‘keeper Dinesh Karthik with just ten runs required for victory.
Uthappa was even more aggressive with a tremendous 47 from only 34 balls until he was trapped lbw by Wayne Parnell in the 12th over.
Manish Pandey (23* off 14) was a more than adequate replacement, however, and the Daredevils bowlers were powerless to prevent the visitors surging to victory with ten balls remaining, Jacques Kallis hitting the winning runs with ten from six balls.
The home side were indebted to a late burst of runs in their final two overs from Kedar Yadav and JP Duminy to post a competitive 160-5 after slumping to 105-5 with just four overs left. A typically aggressive innings from wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik had promised much more but wickets fell at crucial times for the team coached by Gary Kirsten and Eric Simons.
Yadav shared an unbroken stand of 55 with the in-form Duminy to give the Knight Riders a far stiffer chase than they may have been expecting.
The Daredevils openers, Quinton de Kock (10) and Murali Vijay (24) were both caught trying to clear the infield after bright starts but captain Kevin Pietersen looked embarrassingly out of form, struggling to six from 12 balls before running himself out so comically it looked deliberate.
Karthik played some delightful and improvised strokes on his way to 36 from only 22 deliveries before a leading edge against spinner Shakib al Hasan was held by Jacques Kallis at short fine leg giving the Bangladeshi left-armer the remarkable analysis of 1-13 in his four overs.
Jadhav smashed 26 from only 15 balls and Duminy remained unbeaten on 40 from 28 balls with three sixes as the Daredevils tore the final overs to shreds.
The result keeps Knight Riders’ faint hopes alive of reaching the play-offs but for the Daredevils, who have now lost six out of eight, the tournament is effectively over just one game after the halfway point.
Chasing a competitive target of 161 on a pitch offering a little bounce and seam movement, Gambhir led the way with a superbly paced innings of 69 from just 56 deliveries with five fours and a pair of sixes until he edged Wayne Parnell to ‘keeper Dinesh Karthik with just ten runs required for victory.
Uthappa was even more aggressive with a tremendous 47 from only 34 balls until he was trapped lbw by Wayne Parnell in the 12th over.
Manish Pandey (23* off 14) was a more than adequate replacement, however, and the Daredevils bowlers were powerless to prevent the visitors surging to victory with ten balls remaining, Jacques Kallis hitting the winning runs with ten from six balls.
The home side were indebted to a late burst of runs in their final two overs from Kedar Yadav and JP Duminy to post a competitive 160-5 after slumping to 105-5 with just four overs left. A typically aggressive innings from wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik had promised much more but wickets fell at crucial times for the team coached by Gary Kirsten and Eric Simons.
Yadav shared an unbroken stand of 55 with the in-form Duminy to give the Knight Riders a far stiffer chase than they may have been expecting.
The Daredevils openers, Quinton de Kock (10) and Murali Vijay (24) were both caught trying to clear the infield after bright starts but captain Kevin Pietersen looked embarrassingly out of form, struggling to six from 12 balls before running himself out so comically it looked deliberate.
Karthik played some delightful and improvised strokes on his way to 36 from only 22 deliveries before a leading edge against spinner Shakib al Hasan was held by Jacques Kallis at short fine leg giving the Bangladeshi left-armer the remarkable analysis of 1-13 in his four overs.
Jadhav smashed 26 from only 15 balls and Duminy remained unbeaten on 40 from 28 balls with three sixes as the Daredevils tore the final overs to shreds.
The result keeps Knight Riders’ faint hopes alive of reaching the play-offs but for the Daredevils, who have now lost six out of eight, the tournament is effectively over just one game after the halfway point.
