Kolkata Knight Riders beat Kings XI Punjab by 11 runs

Durban: Kolkata Knight Riders beat Kings XI Punjab by 11 runs via -Duckworth-Lewis method in
an Indian Premier League match here today. Kings XI Punjab have now lost their second match n a row with rain playing spoilsport.
Kolkata were 79/1 off 9.2 overs when rain brought the covers on the pitch.Chris Gayle had plundered 44 runs off 26 balls which won him the Man-of-the-Match award.This is their first victory of the tournament.

Put into bat, the Mohali team got off to a sluggish start before Irfan Pathan (32 off 17 balls) came up with a brisk knock to revive the run rate.

Subsequently, captain Yuvraj Singh's breezy 38 and Mahela Jayawardene's (31) unbeaten 19-ball cameo helped Kings XI cross the 150-mark.

Asked to take first strike on the pitch, Kings XI Punjab initially found the going tough as Ishant Sharma conceded just one run in his first over and drew first blood in his second when Chris Gayle rose to pouch Karan Goel's (0) slash in the slips.

Promoted to number three, Irfan did justice to the pinch-hitter's role and runs soon started pouring in.

The first ball he faced scorched the point region grass before crossing the rope and Ishant copped more punishment in his next over when Pathan heaved him over deep midwicket for a six and, two balls later, pulled another past midwicket for a four.

Moises Henriques was also greeted with two fours in his first over before Ganguly intervened. Stripped off KKR captaincy, Ganguly was in the thick of action with his military medium pace as he removed Pathan and Ravi Bopara (15) in a space of three balls.

Murali Kartik caught Pathan inches from the rope while Bopara nicked one behind.

Things could have been worse for the Mohali side which almost lost their captain to a spectacular catch in the deep before replays revealed a diving Yashpal Singh had actually grounded it.

Yuvraj went on to add 58 runs with Kumar Sangakkara (26) but just before Yashpal caught a skier off Henriques to remove the Kings XI captain.

Brief Scores:Kings XI Punjab 158/6 ( Yuvraj Singh-38, Irfan Pathan-32, S Ganguly 2/24) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 79/1 ( Chris Gayle 44* VS Malik 1-23).