Trapped in a tangled web woven by Kolkata Knight Riders’ spin trio of Sunil Narine, Yusuf Pathan and Piyush Chawla, Dolphins was throttled at 151 for eight, chasing a total of 187 for two, in their Oppo Champions League T20 match at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium on Monday.
The winner thus marched into Thursday’s semifinals undefeated, if not unchallenged, buoyed mostly by the batting might of ‘man-of-the-match’ Robin Uthappa and his Karnataka mate Manish Pandey. Complementing the efforts of the batsmen were the bowlers, the pick of whom was Narine (three for 33).
If the Dolphins top-order caved in tamely, but for skipper Morne van Wyk’s 28-ball 34, some middle-order mayhem came from Khayelihle Zondo and Andile Phehlukwayo. In a free-wheeling fifth-wicket stand worth 63, the left-right duo shared the centre-stage in a 34-ball association.
The pair’s enterprise was, however, too sweet to last, and top-scorer Phehlukwayo was castled by the wily Narine. Thereafter, resistance from the Dolphins ran out of steam, notwithstanding the odd boundary or six.
After the Knight Riders opted to bat, Gambhir and Kallis had their off and leg stumps uprooted by Frylinck and Alexander, with the Kolkata side’s innings just traversing a quarter of the way. The South African squad could get only that far, however.
The Karnataka combination of Uthappa and Pandey set the Knight Riders’ house in order, the former more true to the textbook, evident from flowing cover-drives punctuating his elegant endeavour from its early stages.
In contrast, Pandey chose to be unconventional, several of his strokes not finding the direction he had intended them to take.
The unbroken 153-run third-wicket partnership, spanning an hour, proved productive though, pillaging a seven-pronged attack.
While Uthappa raced to his half-century off 35 balls, Pandey wasn’t far behind (39b).
Five boundaries to and over the ropes powered Pandey’s 47-ball unbeaten 76, while Uthappa’s unconquered 85 contained 13 hits to the fence.
Scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders:
Robin Uthappa (not out) 85 (55b, 13x4), Gautam Gambhir b Frylinck 12 (11b, 2x4), Jacques Kallis b Alexander 6 (7b, 1x6), Manish Pandey (not out) 76 (47b, 5x4, 5x6); Extras (lb-2, w-6): 8; Total (for two wkts. in 20 overs): 187.
Fall of wickets: 1-25 (Gambhir), 2-34 (Kallis).
Dolphins bowling: Kyle Abbott 4-0-39-0, Craig Alexander 4-0-36-1, Robert Frylinck 4-0-29-1, Cameron Delport 2-0-19-0, Andile Phehlukwayo 1-0-17-0, Prenelan Subrayen 4-0-30-0, K. Zondo 1-0-15-0.
Dolphins:
Morne van Wyk c Pandey b Pathan 34 (28b, 5x4, 1x6), Cameron Delport c Gambhir b Pathan 0 (2b), Cody Chetty c Narine b Russell 1 (3b), Vaughn van Jaarsveld st. Uthappa b Chawla 19 (18b, 3x4), Khayelihle Zondo c Chawla b Narine 32 (25b, 1x4, 1x6), Andile Phehlukwayo b Narine 37 (18b, 6x4, 1x6), Robert Frylinck c Chawla b Narine 11 (8b, 1x6) , Jonathan Vandiar c S.K. Yadav b Kuldeep 1 (2b), Kyle Abbott (not out) 5 (9b), Prenelan Subrayen (not out) 7 (7b, 1x4); Extras (lb-2, w-2): 4; Total (for eight wkts. in 20 overs): 151
Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Delport), 2-6 (Chetty), 3-53 (van Jaarsveld), 4-57 (van Wyk), 5-120 (Phehlukwayo), 6-136 (Frylinck), 7-136 (Zondo), 8-138 (Vandiar).
KKR bowling: Yusuf Pathan 4-0-25-2, Andre Russell 3-0-17-1 , Kuldeep Yadav 4-0-30-1, Sunil Narine 4-0-33-3, Piyush Chawla 3-0-19-1, Surya Kumar Yadav 1-0-7-0 , Ryan ten Doeschate 1-0-18-0.
Toss: Knight Riders.
Man-of-the-match: Robin Uthappa.
Teams:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (capt), Robin Uthappa, Jacques Kallis, Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Ryan ten Doeschate, Suryakumar Yadav, Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla, Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav.
Dolphins : Morne van Wyk (capt), Cameron Delport, Cody Chetty, Khaya Zondo, Jonathan Vandiar, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Robbie Frylinck, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kyle Abbott, Prenelan Subrayen, Craig Alexander.
