BackKnight Riders beat Daredevils by 17 runs
Knight Riders beat Daredevils by 17 runs
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New Delhi: It turned out to be a sweet ‘homecoming’ for Gautam Gambhir as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) comprehensively beat Delhi Daredevils (DD) by 17 runs to notch up their fourth win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Thursday.
Put into bat, Manoj Tiwary’s gutsy half century helped KKR post a modest 148 for seven and then their bowlers got the dangerous Virender Sehwag and David Warner within the first seven overs to restrict the home to 131 for nine.
The win took KKR to eight points while Delhi stay put on four following their fifth loss and their road to recovery from here looks pretty bleak.
Not only it was satisfying for Gambhir to earn the bragging rights over best buddy Sehwag but it also brought the smile back in the face of Shah Rukh Khan who enjoyed his first victory in his hometown as he shook a leg with Cheer Girls to the tune of Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo Re.
The Daredevils this season are highly dependent on Virender Sehwag-David Warner combination. While Warner dragged one from Balaji that shaped in slightly onto his stumps, Sehwag (34, 23 balls, 5x4, 1x6) was in a punishing mood as he hit a flurry of boundaries in the first five overs.
It was young Jaidev Unadkat who got the dangerous Daredevils captain with a short ball that hurried onto him as he went for a pull and Balaji, who was standing at deep fine leg, didn’t make any mistake.
Sehwag’s dismissal literally put the brakes on scoring as all the KKR bowlers did a splendid job during the middle overs.
James Hopes (25, 30 balls) simply didn’t get going which led to additional pressure on other batsmen who perished going for big shots. Iqbal Abdulla was the pick of the KKR bowlers scalping three wickets for 25.
Earlier, Tiwary scored 61 off only 47 balls (2x4, 3x6) as the other KKR batsmen failed to provide substantial support to the Bengal captain.
Apart from Shreevats Goswami, who scored 22, none of the other top-order KKR batsmen crossed the 20-run mark.
For Tiwary, who has got some good scores in this tournament so far, this was one innings where he shouldered a lot of responsibility staying till the end.
If one took Tiwary’s contribution out, KKR’s scorecard would have cut a sorry picture after being put into bat by Daredevils captain Sehwag.
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