finally,a Knight to remember

what a knight

There had been a sense of inevitability when Brendon McCullum had lost his cool with the umpires during the final moments of Kolkatas heart-breaking loss to Hyderabad on Saturday night. After all the agony that the 27-year-old Kiwi has had to endure over the last one month,he could perhaps be pardoned for letting out a bit of steam. He has had to lead an unhappy bunch of players who have struggled in every department especially on the field where they had several embarrassing spills and have lost matches in every possible manner.

And with his side chasing a sizable 189,it seemed McCullum had decided to win it on his own on Monday night.

The Kolkata skipper started in blistering fashion,hitting Albie Morkel for two fours in the first over,before taking the South African for 16 in his next,which included a flat six over extra cover. But McCullum was forced to fight a lone battle,with Sourav Ganguly struggling to put bat to ball at the other end,so much so that the Kolkata dug-out would have been tempted to jump up in joy when Muttiah Muralitharan finally bowled Ganguly for a 14-ball four.

There was no stopping McCullum,however,as he hit Sudeep Tyagi for four consecutive fours in the sixth over,before finishing off with a six over fine-leg,to bring up his half-century off just 21 balls.

McCullum and Brad Hodge added 90 runs together,but when the skipper fell to a soft dismissal bowled by Shadab Jakati for a 48-ball 81 a tenth straight defeat still looked on the cards for the Knight Riders.

hodge steals it

Things got worse for Kolkata as David Hussey was run-out in the 16th over,with 56 still required from 28 balls. But Hodge,who remained unbeaten on a 44-ball 71,and Wriddhiman Saha kept finding the boundary,bringing the equation down to six needed from the final over.

The match went to the final ball,with Kolkata requiring one more run as Suresh Raina kept things tight. When Saha,who ended up with a 13-ball 25,scooped the last delivery over cover,the mood in the Kolkata camp seemed to be more of surprise than of elation.

It was their second win in the tournament and the first in 27 days.

raina shines

Earlier in the day,Kolkata pulled off another surprise,deciding to rest their main strike bowler Ishant Sharma,and bringing back Ashoke Dinda,one of their least economical.

George Bailey,who replaced Matthew Hayden at the top of the order,and Parthiv Patel got Chennai off to a decent start with a 59-run stand,before both batsmen were run-out in quick succession. Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni,who survived three dropped chances,then kept the momentum going with a 74-run stand. Raina continued his impressive run in the tournament with a 36-ball 52,while Albie Morkel got back his big-hitting touch as he hit two sixes in an unbeaten 11-ball 21.

forget them not

amp;149;In a high-scoring contest,Murali managed to end with figures of 1-16 in his four overs.

amp;149;Bailey was impressive in his first outing,hitting four fours in a 27-ball 30 and doing well in the off-side cordon.