L Balaji’s four for 18, following Gautam Gambhir’s 39-ball 64, helped Kolkata Knight Riders trounce Royal Challengers Bangalore by 42 runs and win their first game of IPL 2012. After being put in to bat at the Chinnaswamy, the visitors notched up a competitive total of 165 for eight, following which they kept the hosts down to 123 for nine, to win their first points of the competition.
The match was delayed by about twenty minutes because of an electrical short circuit at the Chinnaswamy. However, once the game resumed, KKR took complete control of proceedings. Gambhir and Jacques Kallis brought up the 50-run mark in just 5.1 overs with Gambhir smashing Harshal Patel for 15 runs in the fourth over. Daniel Vettori had Kallis (22) caught by AB de Villiers in the seventh over, but there was no slowing KKR down. Gambhir and Manvinder Bisla continued the assault on the RCB bowling attack; the pair adding 65 runs in just 7.1 overs for the second wicket.
However, with the score at 125 for one, the home team fought their way back into the contest. After Bisla (46 off 29) was stumped off Muttiah Muralitharan in the 14th over, KKR lost another six wickets while adding a mere 40 runs off the last 39 deliveries in their innings. Zaheer Khan, R Vinay Kumar and Muralitharan finished with two wickets each as KKR slumped from 125 for one to 165 for eight in 20 overs. Gambhir (64, 9x4, 1x6) was the only other double-digit contributor for the visitors besides Kallis and Bisla.
Having take away the momentum at the end of the innings from their opponents, one expected RCB to take advantage of the situation. Instead, the hosts collapsed without putting up a semblance of a fight.
After Jacques Kallis had Cheteshwar Pujara (6) caught at slip and Chris Gayle (2) caught at mid-on, Lakshmipathy Balaji ripped through the RCB middle-order to leave them wobbling at 60 for six in 11.5 overs. Balaji’s victims included Virat Kohli (6), AB de Villiers (10), Mayank Agarwal (5) and Daniel Vettori (20). Ryan ten Doeschate then accounted for Saurabh Tiwary (18) while Shakib Al Hasan picked up the wickets of Harshal Patel (10) and R Vinay Kumar (25) as the visitors restricted the hosts to 123 for nine in 20 overs.
The win helps KKR to move into fifth place on the points table. RCB, on the other hand, are placed third from the bottom.
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