Stroll in the park for Knights
The drummers and the musicians of the Delhi DareDevils, who were specially brought in to replace the cheerleaders, spent a rather quiet night at the Kotla on Monday. They were helpless as the home team were thoroughly outplayed by the Kolkata Knight Riders.
The Knights, the defending champions, were the favourites on the eve of the match, but none had expected them to dominate the encounter the way they did. Once Gautam Gambhir won the toss and asked the DareDevils to bat first, the Knights simply took over the Capital, it seemed.
The visitors' six-wicket victory was achieved on the strength of their all-round show. They bowled remarkably well, fielded flawlessly and then batted with the right approach to wrap up the match in 18.1 overs. The target of 147 was modest and it never looked like the DareDevils had a chance, except briefly in the fifth over of the Knights' innings.
If Man of the Match Umesh Yadav paved the way for the Knights' victory with his two for 18 off four overs, the batting hero indeed was their captain, Gambhir, who played a fine innings of 60 off 49 balls. This, by the way, was his third half-century in the competition so far. A product of the Kotla, Gambhir hit eight boundaries to shape the triumph.
Not far behind was Yusuf Pathan, whose unbeaten 26-ball 40 played a crucial part in the chase. He forged a 65-run fourth-wicket partnership with Gambhir and that matter in taking the Knights closer to the target.
After playing four matches in the tournament so far, the Knights, it seems are doing decently well. They have now won three out of those four ties, bowing only to Chris Gayle's might in the match versus the Royal Challengers Bangalore, at the Eden.
The DareDevils, on the other hand, suffered their third loss in five matches and extended their streak of home defeats to nine.
The only time the DareDevils displayed some intent was in the fifth over when Dominic Muthuswami struck twice in a span of five balls to give some hope to the home fans. The pacer sent back Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey with the first and fifth deliveries of the over. But the promise that they showed in that over never matured into a match-winning effort.
The DareDevils' batting was shaky and vulnerable - they didn't look like a team who have returned home after two back-to-back wins. But for Angelo Mathews (28), the DareDevils' total could have been far more embarrassing.
While the DareDevils batsmen were prodigal, the Knights bowlers were a disciplined lot. Knowing they could extract something out of the wicket, they tried tirelessly and enthusiastically.
The best example of the Knights' impeccable execution of plans was the last over of the innings, bowled by Umesh. The pacer gave away only three runs and picked up the wicket of Mathews. In T20s, that is as good as winning a lottery.
Mathews was on a rampage in the 19th over when he realised that only an aggressive approach could partially recover the hosts from an insufficient batting effort. They were 123 for six at the end of 18th over, but Mathews hammered Narine for two sixes and one four to gather 20 runs off the 19th.
Umesh, however, frustrated Mathews by keeping a tight leash on the Sri Lankan. Finally, off the last ball, the batsman went for a big hit, only to get an outside edge which was collected by a diving Uthappa behind the stumps.
On the eve of the match, Gambhir had said that he wanted his boys to field better, an obvious reference to the couple of missed catches in their last match against the Kings XI Punjab. His players paid heed to their captain's advice and their fielding was thus far better than what it was in Pune.
The Knights, the defending champions, were the favourites on the eve of the match, but none had expected them to dominate the encounter the way they did. Once Gautam Gambhir won the toss and asked the DareDevils to bat first, the Knights simply took over the Capital, it seemed.
The visitors' six-wicket victory was achieved on the strength of their all-round show. They bowled remarkably well, fielded flawlessly and then batted with the right approach to wrap up the match in 18.1 overs. The target of 147 was modest and it never looked like the DareDevils had a chance, except briefly in the fifth over of the Knights' innings.
If Man of the Match Umesh Yadav paved the way for the Knights' victory with his two for 18 off four overs, the batting hero indeed was their captain, Gambhir, who played a fine innings of 60 off 49 balls. This, by the way, was his third half-century in the competition so far. A product of the Kotla, Gambhir hit eight boundaries to shape the triumph.
Not far behind was Yusuf Pathan, whose unbeaten 26-ball 40 played a crucial part in the chase. He forged a 65-run fourth-wicket partnership with Gambhir and that matter in taking the Knights closer to the target.
After playing four matches in the tournament so far, the Knights, it seems are doing decently well. They have now won three out of those four ties, bowing only to Chris Gayle's might in the match versus the Royal Challengers Bangalore, at the Eden.
The DareDevils, on the other hand, suffered their third loss in five matches and extended their streak of home defeats to nine.
The only time the DareDevils displayed some intent was in the fifth over when Dominic Muthuswami struck twice in a span of five balls to give some hope to the home fans. The pacer sent back Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey with the first and fifth deliveries of the over. But the promise that they showed in that over never matured into a match-winning effort.
The DareDevils' batting was shaky and vulnerable - they didn't look like a team who have returned home after two back-to-back wins. But for Angelo Mathews (28), the DareDevils' total could have been far more embarrassing.
While the DareDevils batsmen were prodigal, the Knights bowlers were a disciplined lot. Knowing they could extract something out of the wicket, they tried tirelessly and enthusiastically.
The best example of the Knights' impeccable execution of plans was the last over of the innings, bowled by Umesh. The pacer gave away only three runs and picked up the wicket of Mathews. In T20s, that is as good as winning a lottery.
Mathews was on a rampage in the 19th over when he realised that only an aggressive approach could partially recover the hosts from an insufficient batting effort. They were 123 for six at the end of 18th over, but Mathews hammered Narine for two sixes and one four to gather 20 runs off the 19th.
Umesh, however, frustrated Mathews by keeping a tight leash on the Sri Lankan. Finally, off the last ball, the batsman went for a big hit, only to get an outside edge which was collected by a diving Uthappa behind the stumps.
On the eve of the match, Gambhir had said that he wanted his boys to field better, an obvious reference to the couple of missed catches in their last match against the Kings XI Punjab. His players paid heed to their captain's advice and their fielding was thus far better than what it was in Pune.