|
King's XI openers devastating
03/05/2008 21:03 - (SA)
Mohali - A devastating opening bowling spell by the King's XI Punjab new ball pair of Irfan Pathan and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth set up a resounding nine-run victory for the Mohali franchise in their IPL match against the Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday night.
Having been indebted to tailender Piyush Chawla, who smashed 19 runs from the final over bowled by Knight Riders quickie Ishant Sharma, to boost their total to a competitive 178-6, the King's XI then reduced the Knight Riders to 29-4 in five overs which effectively sealed the match.
Pathan finished with 2-18 from his four overs while Sreesanth claimed 2-25 from his.
David Hussey fought hard to rebuild the Knight Riders chase with 71 from 46 balls but the visitors were always hopelessly behind the rate.
Hussey added 104 in just 9.2 overs with Wriddhiman Saha to take the total from 50-5 to 154-6 but their heroics, good as they were, never seriously threatened to win the game.
Rarely can a nine-run victory have been as comprehensive as this one.
Earlier, Pathan (24 not out) and Chawla (21 not out) gave the Punjab innings a timely late boost after smart and disciplined bowling had kept the batsmen in check for much of the 20 overs.
Opener Shaun Marsh top scored with 40 from 32 balls - sluggish by his standards - and Kumar Sangakkara chipped in with 28 but the part-time off-spin of Hussey, who read conditions perfectly by taking the pace off the ball, conceded just 23 runs in his three overs and claimed a wicket.
Teams:
King's XI Punjab: Shaun Marsh, James Hopes, Kumar Sangakkara, Yuvraj Singh (captain), Mahela Jayawardene, K Goel, Irfan Pathan, Gagandeep Singh, Piyush Chawla, Sreesanth, VRV Singh.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Mohammed Hafeez, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Debabrata Das, Wriddhiman Saha, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Umar Gul, Ajit Agarkar, Murali Kartik, Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda.
|
Rugby
