Kolkata Knight Riders sealed a 10-run win over Chennai Super Kings via the Duckworth-Lewis method after their IPL match was marred by rain at the Eden Gardens here on Saturday.
Chasing 115 to win in 20 overs, KKR was 61 for two in 10 overs when rain forced the teams to scurry for cover. With no chance of further play the host was declared the winner. The game itself began an hour late owing to drizzle but without any curtailment of overs.
On a sluggish pitch and with the skies threatening to open up any time, KKR had to get some quick runs to stay ahead of the asking rate. The chase began briskly despite the early loss of Eoin Morgan for five.
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Skipper Gautam Gambhir came in and made his intentions clear by playing some bold shots. He set the pace with well placed lofted shots and his partner Jacques Kallis joined in with some authoritative hits.
The second wicket pair added 24 runs before Gambhir was nicely caught by Suraj Randiv off R. Ashwin for 16. The off-spinner looked the most threatening but from the other end runs flowed steadily.
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Kallis and new man Manoj Tiwary kept up with the run rate by playing some calculated shots, pushing, nudging and hitting cleanly when provided the opportunity. Kallis remained not out on 21 and Tiwary was unbeaten on 15.
The win, its seventh in 11 games, too KKR to 14 on the points table. CSK remained on 12 from 10 games and most importantly lost another away game.
Opting to bat, CSK found the going tough in the middle with ball not coming on to the bat. KKR bowlers, especially left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla who was declared man of the match, used the conditions to their advantage.
They managed to tie down the two openers, Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay, with the later distinctively uncomfortable in the middle.
Vijay was the first to leave; misjudging the length of an Abdulla delivery he shaped to push forward only to spoon the ball back to the bowler.
Suresh Raina too found the going difficult and survived only nine balls before hitting off-spinner Yusuf Pathan straight to Kallis at mid-wicket.
It was then left to the in-form Subramanian Badrinath to gather runs in an intelligent manner.
In fact the first big shot of the Super Kings' innings came off Badrinath's bat — a six off Yusuf to long-on. Jaidev Unadkat could have attempted to catch but he lost sight of the ball.
With Hussey, Badrinath arrested further damage and put on 34 for the third wicket in 5.2 overs. By the 10th over, the pair had taken the score to 40 for two.
Productive phase
Albie Morkel joined the well set Badrinath after Hussey pulled a short one from Balaji to Morgan at mid-wicket. The two were involved in the most productive phase of the CSK innings.
Badrinath, who completed 1000 runs in IPL when he moved past 35, offered a difficult chance to Unadkat at mid-wicket off Yusuf. And he made the most of the reprieve with a fine innings of 54 scored off 41 balls with three fours and two sixes.
Morkel too survived a chance when Lee dropped a very difficult chance at deep mid-wicket off Unadkat on 12. He proceeded to hit three boundaries in his unbeaten 30 off 30 balls.
Badrinath was dismissed off the final ball of the innings going for the second run. The fourth wicket pair added 65 valuable runs in nine overs which took CSK to a fighting 114.
Lee and Abdulla were the most economical bowlers for KKR both giving only eight and 15 runs in their four overs respectively. Balaji, who came in for Sarabjit Ladda, was most expensive giving away 33 in four overs.