IPL 2012: Kolkata Keep Up The Pressure On Delhi

IPL 2012: Kolkata Keep Up The Pressure On Delhi

Gautam Gambhir stroked 93 to set up a winning score for the Kolkata Knight Riders

©REUTERS / Action Images

Kolkata Knight Riders 190-4 (Gambhir 93) beat
Royal Challengers Bangalore 143-6 by 47 runs
Indian Premier League 2012, Kolkata
Scorecard

Kolkata Knight Riders closed the gap to Indian Premier League 2012 leaders Delhi Daredevils to just one point following a crushing 47-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore at Kolkata.

A dominant performance from the home side saw them post a formidable 190 for four and then restrict the powerful Bangalore side to 143 for six in reply.

Skipper Gautam Gambhir won the toss and did not hesitate to bat first. Thereafter he led the way stroking a brilliant half-century, both solid and aggressive.

Giving him full company was Brendon McCullum and the two batsmen put up 95 runs in 63 balls. The Kiwi batsman made 43 runs off 37 balls with eight fours.

After his dismissal, Jacques Kallis joined the party and put up another 80 runs for the second wicket. These runs came in 49 balls, an even quicker pace, and pushed Kolkata towards a high total.

Kallis made 41 runs off 28 balls, with one four and three sixes, but the show stealer was Gambhir who scored 93 runs off 51 balls, his innings including nine fours and five sixes.

The Royal Challengers' chase never got started though. Tillakaratne Dilshan was out for just one run and then Virat Kohli was adjudged leg before for 18. The biggest blow came when on the next ball AB de Villiers also gave away his wicket, for a duck, both batsmen accounted for by Kallis.

The score at that moment read 34 for three in the sixth over and the match was as good as over.

But Bangalore’s final hope in the form of Chris Gayle was still at the crease. Though he got off to an uncharacteristically slow start he more than made up for it with some big hitting in the second half of the innings. He top scored with 86 runs off 58 balls, with seven fours and six sixes, earning himself possession of the Orange Cap.

But it was too little, too late, especially given that no other Bangalore batsman reached 20. Kolkata restricted them to 143 for six as Sunil Narina was the most successful bowler returning figures of one for 11 in his four overs.

© Cricket World 2012