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Amazing comeback by Akhtar
13/05/2008 20:45 - (SA)
Kolkata - A cracking spell of fast bowling by Shoaib Akhtar led the Kolkata Knight Riders to victory by 23 runs over the Delhi Daredevils in their Indian Premier League match at Eden Gardens on Tuesday.
Shoaib, whose future with the Pakistan national team is embroiled in controversy and is playing his first IPL game after a ban, had the fur flying in his first over after a lengthy absence from the game.
Shoaib made a storybook comeback when he had Virender Sehwag caught behind off a pacy delivery that just nipped away, the Indian legend notching a royal duck.
By the end of his third over, Shoaib had posted awesome figures of four for 11 in the most amazing comeback story of this historic competition.
Shoaib picked up the wicket of the IPL's leading run-scorer, Gautam Gambhir (10), in his second over and the scalps of AB de Villiers (7), beaten by the pace, and Manoj Tiwary (9) followed in successive deliveries of his third over.
Delhi had been reduced to 28 for four and it was obvious chasing down a modest target of 134 would now be a struggle thanks to the magic of Shoaib.
The other key breakthroughs for Kolkata came via run outs.
Tillekeratne Dilshan (25) had kept Delhi in the game before he was run out, wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha gathering Laxmi Shukla's throw at his feet and breaking the stumps quite brilliantly.
Splendid direct hit
Farveez Maharoof (10) has shown he can hit the ball far and wide, but running between the wickets is an area he can definitely work on and the Sri Lankan's lack of urgency saw him beaten by Ashok Dinda's splendid direct hit off his own bowling.
Delhi went into the last three overs needing 30 runs, with batsman Amit Mishra in and set on a run-a-ball 31.
But medium-pacer Shukla was brought on for the first time in the innings in the 18th over and claimed three wickets in the over to seal victory.
Sourav Ganguly, who bowled four tight overs for 23 runs in the middle, and Ishant Sharma, who conceded just three runs in the 17th over, were the other bowling stars for the Knight Riders.
The Delhi Daredevils had met the challenge of bowling first to the Kolkata Knight Riders as they limited them to 133 for six.
Kolkata captain Ganguly was no doubt betting on a total closer towards 170 when he won the toss and elected to bat first, with the regular clatter of wickets wrecking their chances of getting that.
Pakistani opener Salman Butt (48) and Australian David Hussey (31) were the Kolkata batsmen who did enjoy a small tot of success, with Ganguly's dismissal, bowled by Yo Mahesh for just seven, killing off much of the fun for the crowd packed into Eden Gardens. At least until Shoaib made his dramatic return.
Hussey's run-a-ball innings came at the death, but he fell at the start of the final over when he holed out off a good yorker-length delivery by Maharoof.
Maharoof was the star performer with the ball for Delhi, taking two for 25, while Glenn McGrath killed off any momentum the batsmen had, conceding just 22 runs in his four overs. Mahesh finished with two for 34, while leg-spinner Mishra conceded just 13 runs in three overs.
Teams:
Kolkata Knight Riders - Salman Butt, Aakash Chopra, Sourav Ganguly, David Hussey, Laxmi Shukla, Tatenda Taibu, Wriddhiman Saha, Iqbal Abdulla, Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda, Shoaib Akhtar.
Delhi Daredevils - Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Shikhar Dhawan, AB de Villiers, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Manoj Tiwary, Farveez Maharoof, Yo Mahesh, Glenn McGrath, Pradeep Sangwan, Amit Mishra.
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Rugby
