Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan’s fifties guided Kolkata Knight Riders to a thrilling four-wicket win on a penultimate delivery of second innings over Delhi Daredevils on Monday evening at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi.
Calm and composed Pandey, who scored 69 off 49 balls scampered for a couple to take his team over the finishing line, in style soon after smashing a six when his side required eight off three balls. Sunil Narine remained unbeaten on one.
Causing a bit of a drama in the final over, Chris Woakes was stumped by Rishabh Pant on 3 off 5 balls, on the bowling of Amit Mishra which further made game interesting and kept the jam-packed crowd on their feet.
Suryakumar Yadav was undone by Pat Cummins, as he was caught at mid-off by Zaheer Khan after scoring seven off 9 balls in the 18th over.
After the faltering start, Yusuf Pathan and young Manish Pandey made sure that Knight Riders kept the momentum going while posting the significant partnership of 110 runs.
All-rounder Yusuf Pathan has shown again why he is still a force to reckon with in Kolkata Knight Riders’ team after scoring a blazing 39-ball 59 runs.
However, the right-handed batsman Yusuf was caught and bowled by Chris Morris in the 15th over when Knight Riders were 131 for four.
Earlier, while chasing down the target of 169, KKR were in all sorts of bother inside first three over after losing three wickets while having 21 on board.
Interestingly, Gautam Gambhir had a new opening partner on Monday in the form of Collin de Grandhomme, who went cheaply after scoring just a single on the bowling of Zaheer Khan. The New Zealand right-handed batsman was caught by Sam Billings at the deep square leg region when Knight Riders posted five on board in 0.5 overs.
In the previous match, Sunil Narine was the batting partner of Gambhir, which didn’t go well according to the plan of the Delhi-born skipper.
The next man in was wicket-keeper batsman Robin Uthappa (4 off 2 balls), who was removed by Pat Cummins when Rishabh Pant diving to his right completed a brilliant catch.
In third over, Knight Riders skipper was sent back to the pavilion by Zaheer Khan on 14 off 12 balls when left-handed batsman came down the track and opted for a heave before ball took the leading edge only to found Angelo Matthews completing a catch at the backward point region.
On a Monday afternoon, Delhi Daredevils skipper Zaheer Khan won the toss against Glenn Maxwell-led side Kings XI Punjab and decided to bat first while terming it as the good wicket to bat on.
Australian fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile, who was making debut for the Knight Riders, was the pick of the bowlers for the visitors. The right-arm fast bowler bagged three wickets after giving away 22 runs in four overs.
Moreover, Chris Woakes, Sunil Narine and Umesh Yadav, who were bettered claimed wicket apiece.
Daredevils posted the total of 168 for seven in 20 overs after Rishabh Pant’s quickfire 38 off 16 balls which included four sixes and two boundaries helped the hosts to post.
The hosts started off with a flier to post 53 on board in first six overs. Sanju Samson alongside England recruit Sam Billings anchored the innings before Billings was dismissed on 39 off 25 balls. His knock was laced with seven boundaries before perishing on the bowling of Coulter-Nile.
In 8th over at the score of 63, Daredevils lost its second wicket in the form of Samson, who was caught by the wicketkeeper Robin Uthappa on the bowling of Coulter-Nile.
For the third wicket Shreyas Iyer (26 of 17) alongside Karun Nair (21 off 27 balls) posted 43 runs to bring the team back on track when they were looking to post a decent total.
Iyer, who looked decent with the bat was run out by Collin de Grandhomme to see hosts 106 for three in 13.2 overs.
The hosts’ fans had something to cheer when wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant played a gritty 16-ball knock of 38. The left-handed batsman was dismissed by Coulter-Nile when skipper Gautam Gambhir completed the catch.
While losing wickets at regular intervals, Daredevils seemed to have lost the momentum. The side lost three wickets in last three overs.
In 18th over, Angelo Matthews (1 off 4 balls) was dismissed cheaply when Sunil Narine cleaned him up.
On the penultimate delivery of the first innings, Chris Morris was caught by Umesh Yadav on the bowling of Chris Woakes after scoring 16 off nine balls. However, Pat Cummins remained unbeaten on 3 off four deliveries.
With this win, Knight Riders jumped to the top of the IPL points table with eight points out of five matches. The side has registered four wins out of five matches.