IPL 2012: Kolkata Knight Riders defuse Deccan Chargers with ease

Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Deccan Chargers vy 5 wickets at Cuttack.

Vineet Ramakrishnan

Cuttack: Playing at a different home venue, Deccan Chargers failed to rectify their past gaffes imploding once again after a steady start to hand Kolkata Knight Riders an easy target of 126 in 20 overs, which, the Gambhir-led side overcame in last over of the day with ease in a rain soaked Barabati Stadium at Cuttack here on Sunday. Shikhar Dhawan as usual top scored for the Chargers but his 50-ball 50 runs failed to provide the impetus needed by the Chargers in the latter part of innings courtesy another spell of tight bowling by the KKR bowling unit lead by Brett Lee (4-0-15-1), ably supported by Sunil Narine (4-0-26-2) and Rajat Bhatia (4-0-26-1). For Kolkata, Captain Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwary top scored with 30 runs each and along with Kallis (23) they ensured that Kolkata do not make a mess of the run chase. Right from the start, the Knights were in total control on course to 127 and the openers played out the first three overs of dangerous Dale Steyn with patience and then inched towards the target in a rather relaxed manner. Amit Mishra though produced the wicket of the day is he castled Manvinder Bisla with a perfect top spinner but that was not enough as Manoj Tiwary and Debabrata Das took KKR home in the last over of the day with 5 wickets remaining. The wickets of Gauti and Yusuf Pathan (who again proved to be a flop show) in back to back overs did give a glimmer of hope for DC but with mediocre fielding effort defending a paltry target of 126, the Chargers had no chance of a comeback in the game. Earlier, Deccan had a decent start first up with in-form batsman Shikhar Dhawan taking the onus elevating the run rate past 7 but a struggling Kumar Sangakkara perished early, charging down the track to Laxmipathy Balaji, losing his middle stump for just 12 runs. Parthiv Patel came to the middle one down and along with Dhawan played a rather enterprising innings of 23 courtesy some solid flicks and innovative shots before the diminutive wicketkeeper fell short of his crease attempting a non-existent second run. The duo managed 44 runs in under 6 overs. Patel went back to the pavilion fuming to bring out the hard hitting Cameron White ahead of in-form JP Duminy. White though struggled in the middle and pressure mounted on Shikhar Dwahwan at the other end as well. Some tight wicket to wicket bowling by Rajat Bhatia and Sunil Narine kept the stranglehold on the duo giving away nothing to score off. White eventually perished trying to pull Brett Lee in the 15th over which was later followed by Dhawan’s dismissal in the very next over. With scorecard reading 102 for 4 with four overs remaining, DC should have gone for the kill but newbie Ishank Jaggi and Duminy played out Lee’s 17th over for just one run followed by 8 run over and a wicket off the next over. The 19th and the 20th over produced only 15 runs.