In a game that got off to a delayed start due to malfunctioning of the floodlight system, Chargers bowled out Knight Riders for 101 and then romped home in 13.1 overs, reaching 104 for two.
Herschelle Gibbs (43 not out) and Rohit Sharma (36 not out) led the assault on the paltry Knight Riders’ total, adding 69 runs for the third wicket.
Earlier, on a damp pitch, RP Singh found pace and bounce to return figures of four for 22 from 3.4 overs to help Chargers bowl out Knight Riders in 19.4 overs. He was well supported by Scott Styris (2/32) and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha (2/14) who chipped in with two wickets each. Opening bowler Fidel Edwards bowled with a lot of pace and accuracy and conceded just six runs from his allotted four overs though without success.
Australian Brad Hodge top-scored with 31 for Knight Riders while three other batsmen — Chris Gayle (10), Aakash Chopra (11) and Murali Kartik (10) — managed to reach double figures.
Put in to bat, KKR had a disastrous start with their openers captain Brendon McCullum and Gayle returning to the hut by the fourth over with just 12 runs on the board, both victims of RP Singh. From there on they never recovered.
McCullum got a faint touch to RP Singh’s first ball of the innings and was caught by his opposite number Adam Gilchrist behind the wicket for just one.
Two overs later, RP Singh was given a special treatment by Gayle by hitting a four and a six from two consecutive balls but the Uttar Pradesh pacer had the last laugh by claiming the West Indies skipper who was holed out to Harmeet Singh at long off for 10.
Sourav Ganguly was expected to let the willow speak following all that captaincy controversy but the former India skipper’s vigil at the crease lasted just 12 balls and yielded just one run.
Deccan bowlers tied down the strong KKR batting line-up to just 31 runs at the halfway mark for three wickets. Aakash Chopra, who was dropped by Gilchrist early in his innings, could add 11 individual runs before becoming left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha’s first victim.
SCORE BOARD
Kolkata Knight Riders: McCullum c Gilchrist b RP Singh 1; Gayle c Harmeet Singh b RP Singh 10; Ganguly c Laxman b Harmeet 1; Hodge c Gibbs b Styris 31; Chopra st Gilchrist b Ojha 11; Shukla st Gilchrist bOjha 8; Henriques c Sharma b Styris 6; Agarkar (run out) 7; Kartik (not out) 10; Ishant b RP Singh 9; Dinda b RP Singh 2. Extras (LB-4, W-1) 5. Total (all out in 19.4 overs) 101.
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-12, 3-16, 4-34, 5-48, 6-72, 7-73, 8-81, 9-99.
Bowling: Edwards 4-1-6-0, RP Singh 3.4-0-22-4, Harmeet 4-0-23-1, Ojha 4-0-14-2, Styris 4-0-32-2.
Deccan Chargers: Gilchrist c Henriques b Dinda 13; Gibbs (not out) 43; Laxman (run out) 10; R Sharma (not out) 36. Extras (B-1, W-1) 2. Total (for two wickets; 13.1 overs) 104.
Fall of wickets: 1-24; 2-35.
Bowling: Dinda 3-0-24-1; Ishant 3-0-13-0; Kartik 4-0-23-0; Ganguly 1-0-8-0; Agarkar 1-0-17-0; Gayle 1-0-14-0; Henriques 0.1-0-4-0.
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