IPL: Kolkata beat Punjab by 8 wickets

Zeenews Sports Bureau

Mohali: Gautam Gambhir played captain’s innings to give Kolkata Knight Riders a much needed victory as they beat Kings XI Punjab by eight wickets in an Indian Premier League match on Wednesday. Scorecard » I Points table » Gambhir led from the front and put on an unbeaten 66, which included seven fours and one six. Brendon McCullum looked dangerous early on but failed to capitalise on the good start. He fell cheaply to Chawla scoring 15. Soon, Kallis joined the captain to finish off the honours and did it with a six. He stayed unbeaten scoring 30 off 23 balls. Adam Gilchrist’s decision to bat after winning the toss on a green track at the PCA ground didn’t go in hosts’ favour as they were reduced to 127 runs in 20 overs. A disciplined bowling and fielding by KKR kept checking Punjab’s progress and never allowed them to get going. They lost wickets at regular intervals. Gilchrist’s harmstring problem came at the wrong time for Punjab, as he had to retire hurt in the sixth over but returned later to lift his side to 127. He top scored with an unbeaten 40, while Shaun Marsh made a 30-ball 33 with the help of four boundaries. Kings XI batsmen struggled from the onset against a determined KKR bowling line up and it could be gauged from the fact that only three of their batters could manage double figures. Wily West Indian off-spinner Sunil Narine (2/24) and Brett Lee (2/26) starred with the ball for KKR, sharing four wickets between them. Laxmipathy Balaji (1/20) and Rajat Bhatia (1/23) also picked up a wicket each for the visitors. Kings XI's last year's hero, Paul Valthaty once again disappointed as he fell early, outside edging a Brett Lee delivery to Manvinder Bisla behind the stumps in the third over. As it happened... Over 16.3: Kallis sealed a big win for the Kolkata Knight Riders with a six against Punjab. Over 13.5: Fifty for Gautam Gambhir. Over 9.5: Chawla struck again as he bowled Bisla to collect his second wicket. Kolkata 75/2 after 10 Ovs). Bisla b Chawla 11(14) [6s-1] Over 5.5: Lucky Chawla got McCullum caught by Mascarenhas. KKR were 53/1. Brendon McCullum c Mascarenhas b Chawla 15(18) [4s-3] Over 3: Kolkata took off the chase briskly but a maiden over in the third over by Praveen Kumar slowed down the scoring rate. End of over 3 Kolkata Knight Riders 18/0 Kings XI Punjab innings Kolkata Knight Ridres' Sunil Narine cleaned up Piyush Chawla in the last ball of the innings to restrict the hosts Kings XI Punjab to 124/7 in 20 overs. Over 17.1: Narine removed Dogra. Top edged and straight into the hands of Kallis at deep square leg. Dogra c Kallis b Narine 6(8) Over 16.5: Mascarenhas looking for a big one mishit and was caught by Tiwary at long on. Punjab lost their fifth wicket. The wicket brought Gilchrist back to the crease. Mascarenhas c Manoj Tiwary b Bhatia 9(10) [4s-1] Over 14.2: David Hussey run out!! Dogra put one straight to cover and tried to steal a run. Hussey after a hesitation decided to run but a perfect throw at the keeper's end dismissed Hussey. David Hussey run out (Brendon McCullum/Bisla) 10(14) Over 14.: Marsh OUT!! Marsh threw his bat onto a wide and short delivery from Lee, edged it and landed in Bisla's safe hands. Punjab were 86/3 at the end of 14 overs. Shaun Marsh c Bisla b Brett Lee 33(30) [4s-4] Over 13: Shaun Marsh who had a decent outing in the match against Warriors teamed up with David Hussey to give a good total. Run rate a little over 6 runs per over. End of over 13 (8 runs) Kings XI Punjab 83/2 (RR: 6.38) Over 9.3: Mandeep, searching for a boundary, tried to send one towards off but only managed an outside edge. Bhatia made no mistake at third man. Balaji got the wicket. Mandeep Singh c Bhatia b Balaji 6(10) Over 6.6: Shaun Marsh guided one off Narine to third man boundary to bring fifty to Punjab. Punjab 50/1 (7 Ovs) Over 5.5: Big blow for Kings XI Punjab as Gilchrist walked away from the pitch after hurting himself attempting a run. AC Gilchrist retired hurt 28 (23b 3x4 0x6) SR: 121.73 End of over 6 (11 runs) Kings XI Punjab 45/1 (RR: 7.50) Over 5: Sunil Narine was introduced into the attack. Did the job quiet well with giving away just five runs. End of over 4 (5 runs) Kings XI Punjab 29/1 (RR: 7.25) Over 2.6: Valthaty tried to cut a short delivery from Lee but edged behind to give Bisla an easy catch. Valthaty c Bisla b Brett Lee 8(8) [4s-1] Over 1: Brett Lee gave a decent start to KKR on a good note on good sporting wicket. But Valthaty drove a full down straight for four to finish the over. Punjab 8/0 (1.0 Ovs) Kings XI Punjab captain Adam Gilchrist won the toss and elected the to bat first in their Indian Premier League match against Kolkata Knight Riders at the PCA Stadium, Mohali on Wednesday. Paul Valthaty found a place in the Punjab squad replacing Bipul Sharma. In the Kolkata side, McCullum and Lee replaced Shakib and ten Doeschate. After two initial losses, KXIP bounced back with two consecutive victories -- one at home against Pune Warriors and the other against Wednesday’s opponents at the Eden Gardens just two days back. Kings XI Punjab: Adam Gilchrist, Paul Valthaty, Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Mandeep Singh, Paras Dogra, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Bhargav Bhatt, Harmeet Singh. Kolkata Knight Riders: Brendon McCullum, Jacques Kallis, Gautam Gambhir, Manvinder Bisla, Manoj Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Debabrata Das, Brett Lee, Rajat Bhatia, Sunil Narine, Lakshmipathy Balaji.