Angelo Mathews brilliant all round performance gave Kolkata Knight Riders a brilliant 11 run victory over the defending champions Deccan Chargers in the opening match of the third edition of the Indian Premier League played at the D Y Patil Stadium, Nerul near here yesterday.
Set a target of 162 to win in 20 overs, Deccan Chargers could manage only 150 for seven to give Kolkata Knight Riders, who finished at the bottom in the last season, a winning start in their campaign this season.
Kolkata Knight Riders after putting up a decent score of 161 for four in their 20 overs after being 31 for four at one time, were put on the back foot by Adam Gilchrist and VVS Laxman who carted the bowling to all parts of the ground as the duo put on 61 runs for the first wicket in just 5.5 overs before V V S Laxman was dimissed for 22 which came in 14 balls and was inclusive of one four and a six.
Gilchrist continued to use the long handle to good effect and though he was lucky being dropped twice he finally fell for 54 when he tried to loft spinner Brad Hodge over squareleg fence only to give a easy catch to Manoj Tiwary at deep squareleg. Gilchrist made 54 in 35 balls with three fours and three sixers inclusive to leave Deccan Chargers were 99 for two at that time.
This was the time Kolkata Knight Riders came back with Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Symonds and Rohit Sharma all falling while trying to clear the field as the defending champions slumped to 128 for five.
It was a disciplined bowling performance from the Knight Riders with Murali Kartik being the most economical taking one for 17 in three overs.
Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders were saved by a 130 run fifth wicket partnership between Owais Shah and Angelo Mathews who took their team from a precarious 31 for 4 to a healthy 161 for four in their 20 overs..
Kolkata Knight Riders last edition’s cellar team got off to a disastrous start after being asked to bat first by Deccan Chargers when Sri Lankan medium pacer Chaminda Vaas dismissed Manoj Tiwary and Sourav Ganguly in the first over without giving a run away.
Tiwary was out on the first ball of the innings when he tried to flick a delivery from Vaas on the on side but only managed to give a straight forward catch to midwicket where Rohit Sharma made no mistake in taking the catch.
Three balls later, KKR captain Sourav Ganguly was back in the hunt for a zero when a ball from Vaas moved off the seam drawing Ganguly forward for the ball to take the outside edge straight to V V S Laxman in the slips. Kolkata Kinght Riders were two down for zero after four balls.
Cheteshwar Pujara struck two fluent boundaries and with Brad Hodge also looking good added 31 runs for the third wicket in four overs before Pujara spooned an easy catch to Pragyan Ojha at mid on off R P Singh for 10. In the next over without any addition to the score Brad Hodge also fell for 13 which included a four and a six in it slashing J Bhuttar straight to point where Hreschelle Gibbs made no mistake to leave KKR in all sorts of trouble at 31 for four.
Angelo Mathews then joined Owais Shah and the two began rebuilding the innings with the former getting of the mark with a top edged six over the wicket keeper’s head of the bowling of Bhuttar and then followed up later with two consecutive boundaries of Bhuttar Owais Shah at the other end kept on taking the singles and the odd two, He, however started to press on the accelerator with a slog sweep of Andrew Symonds.
The two after settling down then took apart the Deccan Chargers attack as it rained sixes and fours at the D Y Patil with Mathews reaching his half century in just 38 balls with the help of four boundaries and three sixers.
Shah after a slow start also opened out reaching his 50 in 43 balls with three boundaries and two sixers. Angelo Mathews who remained unbeaten on 65 in 46 balls with 5 fours and 4 sixers along with Shah who was unbeaten on 58 in 46 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixers added 130 runs for the unbeaten fifth wicket to take Kolkata Knight Riders to a challenging score of 161 for four wickets.
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