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Journalism of Courage
After three wins in big scoring games, Kings XI Punjab made it four in a row as they defended 132 on a difficult Abu Dhabi wicket to remain on top of the table. The target was rather small, but Punjab were comfortable in the defence and once Suryakumar Yadav’s (34 off 17) late cameo ended in the 18th over, Punjab were home and dry. Kolkata Knight Riders were bowled out for 109 in 18.2 overs to fall 23 runs short. It was Kolkata’s second defeat of the tournament and there was more bad news for the captain Gautam Gambhir.
Short on confidence and coming into this match on the heels of a hat-trick of ducks, Gambhir dropped himself down the order to No. 3. Still, he had to come out early after make shift opener Manish Pandey was trapped leg before in the third over by Sandeep Sharma. Gambhir was greeted by a placard in the stands that read: “Please open your account”. The left-hander obliged, after surviving a caught and bowled chance in the first ball he faced, but a single was all he could manage. Sharma sent him packing soon — an uppish drive was well held by Akshar Patel at wide mid-off.
Tricky chase
Now the chase was getting tricky. It was a pitch where Royal Challengers Bangalore folded for 70 in the first match of the day, and after Kallis’ departure an over after Gambhir’s, KKR were the underdogs. From 19 for three, it was always going to be an uphill task on a surface that had enough unpredictability to confuse the batters. The batsmen didn’t help themselves with the calling, with Robin Uthappa running himself out with the score at 62/6. With the target getting quickly out of reach, Yadav threw his bat around to top score for his side, but the challenge was snuffed out soon.
Earlier, Sunil Narine and Piyush Chawla shared six wickets (three each) to take the wind out of Punjab’s sails. But the side had to tackle the in form Glenn Maxwell first. Narine, brought in after five overs, was dispatched to the point boundary with a contemptuous switch-hit. The Orange-Cap holder, however, was looking a bit uncomfortable against fast bowling aimed at his rib cage and Gambhir intelligently brought back Morne Morkel for a second spell inside the first 10 overs.
Soon, Morkel’s yorker slipped through Maxwell’s defences as the batsman moved well outside off as he looked for a leg side boundary. Then Chawla got into the act, starting off by dismissing David Miller in his first over and snapping up George Bailey and Virender Sehwag inside two deliveries in his third. Miller was beaten in the flight and was caught by Morkel at long-on. Bailey’s dismissal was almost identical except that he fell to a leg-break.
Sehwag, who top-scored for Punjab with a 30-ball 37 and was playing well, was done in by a googly that knocked back the middle stump. Narine ensured that there was no late charge from the opposition with three wickets in the 19th over. Patel was foxed by a doosra, Johnson got a beauty first up which disturbed his off stump and Balaji, after surviving the hat-trick ball, was caught plumb in front in the next one. From 74 for four in the 10th over, Punjab slumped to 126 for nine in the 19th and could only add six more.
Brief scores: KXIP 132 for 9 in 20 overs (V Sehwag 37 off 30 balls, R Dhawan 19* off 18 balls, G Maxwell 15 off 12 balls; P Chawla 3/19, S Narine 3/24, M Morkel 1/26) beat KKR 109 all out in 18.2 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 34 off 17 balls, Robin Uthappa 19 off 27 balls; Sandeep Sharma 3/21, Mitchell Johnson 2/22, Akshar Patel 2/16). KKR won the toss and elected to field.
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