Journalism of Courage
Kolkata Knight Riders gave themselves a chance to make it to the semi finals of the Champions League T20 tournament by beating Warriors by 22 runs via Duckworth/Lewis method in Bangalore on Saturday.
They bowled with discipline,fielded with desperation and batted with an aggression that had been lacking in their performances so far in their campaign.
Chasing a target of 156,KKR were 83 for one after nine overs when heavens opened. The D/L par score at that time was 61 for one and KKR were well ahead courtesy skipper Gambhir and Kallis. With rain clouds hovering menacingly over the Chinnaswamy stadium all through Saturday,the duo scored at a brisk pace to ensure that Kolkata kept their net run rate high.
KKR are second in the table with four points but have played all their games while Warriors are leading the table with four points and a better net run rate and a game in hand. Somerset have three points but have two games in hand,while South Australia are also on three but with one game to play. RCB have no points and have two games remaining. Earlier,the first game between Somerset and South Australia Redbacks were abandoned with out a ball being bowled.
After losing opener Manvinder Bisla (19),KKR were back in the hunt with Kallis and Gambhir,stitching an unbeaten 33-ball 48 run partnership for the second wicket stand. Warriors though would be rueing the two times they let Gambhir and Kallis off. Gambhir was dropped by Kelly Smuts on 21 off Johan Botha while Kallis was on 15 when wicketkeeper Mark Boucher dropped him.
Brief scores: Warriors 155/4 in 20 overs (C Ingram 61,J Smuts 46; L Balaji 2/35) lost to KKR 83/1 in 9 overs (G Gambhir 33*,J Kallis 31*) by 22 runs (D/L method)
