Kolkata record shock win over KXIP

Cricket365
May 11, 2014

The Kolkata Knight Riders pulled off a suprise win over the IPL leaders on Sunday, beating the Kings XI Punjab by a whopping nine wickets and with two overs to spare.

The Kolkata Knight Riders pulled off a surprise win over the IPL leaders on Sunday, beating the Kings XI Punjab by a whopping nine wickets and with two overs to spare.

Punjab's batting effort was below par and they could only post 149 for eight, and that was only because Virender Sehwag scored 72. Kolkata then romped to victory thanks to Sehwag's India partner Gautam Gambhir, who made 63 not out.

Kolkata won the toss and chose to field, looking to deny the Kings the change to chase, which they've done so well all tournament. Mandeep Singh was out for a duck in the first over and that set the trend.

While Sehwag showed considerable skill at the top of the order, the rest of the line up were abject, with not a single player going past the 20s. Glenn Maxwell and David Miller were out for 14 and 13 respectively.

Kolkata's star with the ball was Piyush Chawla, who took three wickets, including Sehwag's in the 15th over. He'd made 72 off 50 balls, but no-one else was able to back him up as Morne Morkel bagged a brace as well.

The chase was easy as pie for KKR, as the Kings looks oddly limp with the ball. Mitchell Johnson went at 11 to the over without taking a wicket, while Sandeep Sharma was also unfortunate. The only wicket was taken by Parvinder Awana.

Gambhir, who started the tournament with three ducks in a row, showed his class as he and Robin Uthappa put on 68 runs in the first seven overs. Uthappa scored 46 of those, off 28 balls.

Once he departed, Gambhir picked up the pace and scored 63 not out in the end, while Manish Pandey was on 36. Neither struck a six, but they weren't necessary.

Still, Punjab remained at the top of the standings, level on points with Chennai, thanks to their excellent net run rate, while Kolkata moved to fourth, joined with Hyderabad on eight points.