2927dThe Bulletin by Abhishek Purohit

Spinners, Gambhir help Kolkata breeze past Pune

Shakib Al Hasan, Iqbal Abdulla and Yusuf Pathan tied Pune down, exploiting the generous spin available on the DY Patil Stadium surface, and Gautam Gambhir ensured that his side motored to victory in the 17th over

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

G Gambhir
G Gambhir
54(46) 7x4 - 0x6
Control %79%
  • Productive Shot
  • off side drive on front foot
  • 24 runs
  • 5x4 - 0x6
4 10 10 4 2 4 2 18
YK Pathan
YK Pathan
29(25) 3x4 - 1x6
Control %64%
  • Productive Shot
  • cut shot on back foot
  • 14 runs
  • 3x4 - 0x6
6 0 2 8 1 1 0 11

Best performances - Bowlers

L Balaji
O1
M0
R7
W2
Eco7
RHB
OFFLEG
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
Shakib Al Hasan
Shakib Al Hasan
O4
M0
R16
W2
Eco4
RHB
OFFLEG
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF

Scorer: Binoy George | Commentator: Nitin Sundar

On behalf of the crew at ESPNcricinfo, this is Nitin Sundar signing off. So long and thanks for all the feedback. Do tune in for the Test match and the IPL action tomorrow. On your way out, do check out Abhishek's bulletin. Cheers!

Right, so this is how the points table looks at this stage. KKR, KXIP and MI fans - take a good look at that. Things could be decided when MI play RR tomorrow, and DC play KXIP the day after. What fun it would be if it goes down to the last day of the league phase.

Presentations time:

Yusuf Pathan is Man of the Match for his solid all-round showing. He speaks in hindi (translated): "No tension ahead of the game. Gauti utilised me very well with the ball, I could get wickets and keep the runs down."

Gambhir: "Credit to the entire team. We were never too keen on batting in a hurry for the NRR. It wasn't that kind of pitch, and we just wanted to be professional. If we win the next game we can be 2nd on the table, so that's what we will focus on. Jacques' been doing a great job, his injury gave me an opportunity to open today."

Yuvraj: "135-140 would have been a good score. Toss would have been vital, it turned a lot earlier and not much in the second half. I am happy to allow youngsters bat ahead of my up the order, since I have batted low for India and can handle the pressure. All I could do when Callum Ferguson's throws were going for four was smile, so that's what I did."

Kamal: "No need to record the presentation ceremony. After 60-odd matches, its clear what yuvi gonna speak today. 'We were probably 20 runs short. We keep making the same mistake. Our batting was the let down. We still have a match to win for our fans. International players need to step up. We have got few positives..'... Gimme a break, guys."

KKR's Net run-rate is now 0.205 ahead of KXIP, so even if KXIP win their last game v Deccan, and KKR lose theirs v Mumbai, it might not be enough for Punjab to make it. Mumbai of course have 2 games, and one win will see them through.

Kunal: "Is it possible for MI to choke like they did in 2008 and 2009 to find themselves out of play-offs? I think there is serious possibility of this happening, but we shall see. They are the chokers of IPL having done so latein season 2008, 2009 and 2010 final."

16.4
1
Rana to Bhatia, 1 run, the game ends in comic fashion. Bhatia gets a wide ball outside off, and under-edges to short third man where Pandey fields, loses balance as he tries to throw, and throws towards short cover. Easy single, KKR move up to 16 points.
16.3
1
Rana to Gambhir, 1 run, full and wide outside off, Gambhir levels the scores by cutting hard toward point where Ryder stops it to keep the game going.
16.2
0
Rana to Gambhir, no run, back of a length outside off, Gambhir stays on the crease and guides to point.
16.1
0
Rana to Gambhir, no run, length ball on the pads, Gambhir can't get it away as he looks to nurdle. Rajat Bhatia at the non-striker's end must think he's looking at a mirror. Rana's action is rather reminiscent of his.

Rakesh: "Judging by the catch Gangulay took, he should be given the ball after the timeout to bowl an over. He just might pick up a wicket or two confounding the confounders." No Sourav, but Sachin is going to bowl.

END OF OVER:
16 | 3 Runs 1 Wkt | KKR: 117/3 (2 runs required from 24 balls, RR: 7.31, RRR: 0.50)

  • Rajat Bhatia0 (2b)
  • Gautam Gambhir53 (43b)
  • Wayne Parnell4-0-27-1
  • Rahul Sharma4-0-29-0
15.6
0
Parnell to Bhatia, no run, this time he misses one as it angles past him. Two to win. Perfect timing for a strategic time-out. Bhatia and Gambhir can discuss just how to pace this chase, while Pune can check if they have a Malinga in their midst to pull this one back.
15.5
0
Parnell to Bhatia, no run, fullish length, Bhatia leans out and drives into the covers.

KKR 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st7G GambhirSP Goswami
2nd46G GambhirMK Tiwary
3rd64G GambhirYK Pathan
4th2R BhatiaG Gambhir