Quick downfall for Kolkata

Daredevils pacers Irfan and Morne strike early to ensure chase of 161 never gets started

The ball pitched on middle,just smacking the back-of-length on its stitches and seamed in. That by itself should have been plenty for any batsman in the world to contend with,but the odd bounce was the last straw on Jacques Kallis8217;s back. Fingers,actually.

Trying to nudge the ball away towards square on the leg side,fellow South African team-mate Morne Morkel8217;s delivery rose oddly enough early in the chase of 161 against the Delhi Daredevils and crashed into Kallis8217; digits wrapped around the handle. The result? Retired hurt for zero. Off just his second ball,in just the second over.

Iqbal Abdullah,Kolkata Knight Riders8217; twelfth man who led Kallis out of the field,should have stayed on guard for the next KKR man in,Yusuf Pathan,who was nearly forced to exit immediately,thanks to another lethal delivery aimed at the upper torso. Pathan,who took the delivery on his right arm,wasn8217;t rushed off the field like his IPL team-mate. But unfortunately for KKR,the damage had already been done.

While the extra bounce at the SuperSport Park in Centurion,which was to turn into an odd one that even stayed as low as ankle height soon after,was a major factor that did the defending IPL champions in on Saturday night from the second over onwards,it was their poor shot selection that lost them the match in the very first over itself. And for that,the blame must squarely lie on the shoulders of captain Gautam Gambhir,IPL V8217;s final hero Manvinder Bisla and one of the best T20 batters in the world,Brendon McCullum.

All DD8217;s Irfan Pathan had to do was run in and bowl. KKR8217;s batsmen did the rest. In their attempt to overhaul Delhi8217;s 160,Gambhir got out early,that has happened before,but in the most uncharacteristic way possible. This time around,it wasn8217;t while attempting the nudge or the pull,but while trying to loft one over mid-on against a delivery swinging away from him. He was caught by Kevin Pietersen at mid-on. KKR,0/1 in 0.3.

Bisla was gone three balls later,when Pathan trapped him plumb in front while Bisla tried to cover drive an inswinging ball. KKR,0/2 in one over. If that was bad enough,then it went from very bad to worst when McCullum threw his hands at the width given by Morkel in the first ball of the next over,only to be caught for a golden duck by the man of the hour,Unmukt Chand.

Chand,in his first big appearance since winning the under-19 World Cup the India A matches he was a part of was played in front of empty stands quite unlike Centurion today,anchored the Daredevils8217; innings to perfection,with a team top score of 40.

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He began batting in the ninth over of the innings,at the fall of Virender Sehwag8217;s wicket. Chand allowed both Pietersen and Ross Taylor to have their say,before launching into Laxmipathy Balaji in the 17th over of the innings. Balaji cost 30 in six balls. KKR,for a while,looked like all their batsmen wouldn8217;t score that much.

Brief scores: Delhi Daredevils 160 for 8 U Chand 40,R Taylor 36; S Narine 3/21 bt KKR 108 for 7 M Tiwary 33; I Pathan 2/19,M Morkel 2/25,U Yadav 2/13