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Match Report:

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Gambhir secures KKR victory over Delhi

Kolkata skipper scores third fifty of IPL 8 as Nathan Coulter-Nile's Delhi Daredevils fall short

Nathan Coulter-Nile and his fellow Delhi Daredevils bowlers couldn’t stop Kolkata Knight Riders cruising to a comfortable IPL victory at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium.

On the back of Umesh Yadav’s superb spell and captain Gautam Gambhir’s third half-century of the competition, the Knight Riders chased down 147 with 11 balls and six wickets to spare to notch their third victory of the season. Yadav won the man-of-the-award for his stifling bowling as he ended with 2-18 from four overs.

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Yadav starred with the ball for Kolkata // BCCI

The Daredevils innings stalled early and the inability of their middle-order batsmen to take advantage of some good starts meant they were left to defend a below-par total. And despite losing two quick wickets in the fifth over of the run chase, Gambhir’s presence until almost the very end provided them with the buffer they needed to clinch the win.

Despite the grass on the surface that prompted Gambhir to bowl first, there wasn't too much movement for either of his opening bowlers. What got Morne Morkel his first wicket was bounce, with an attempted hook from Mayank Agarwal taking the top-edge and landing safely in the hands of Yadav at fine-leg.

The in-form JP Duminy showed his intentions early with a punch off Yadav that rushed to the deep cover fence, but Gambhir won the tactical battle against him with the early introduction of Sunil Narine.

Usually known to bowl after the Powerplay overs, Narine struck in his very first over as the Daredevils captain attempted a sweep, the ball hit bat and pad before it rolled on to the stumps and dislodged a bail.

Delhi were soon 3-58 in the ninth over when opener Shreyas Iyer fell for 31 and at the halfway stage they had only managed 69 runs.

Manoj Tiwary got his first chance to bat this season and coming in at number four he had more than 15 overs at his disposal. He showed his aggressive streak from the very start; the first ball he faced off Narine was paddled away to the fence before he flicked Andre Russell to the fine-leg boundary.

Iyer’s dismissal at the other end didn’t bother him, as he welcomed Yusuf Pathan to the bowling crease with a reverse-dab that beat the short third-man fielder to the rope.

His best period came against Morkel, in the 11th over, when he slapped one through the covers and then pulled another over square-leg to get himself eight runs. However, Morkel had his revenge in his very next over, his last, when Tiwary’s attempted pull went straight to Pathan.

If Tiwary's wicket had pushed Delhi back, Yuvraj Singh's bizarre dismissal put Kolkata further on top.

It almost looked as if Yuvraj had dozed off after attempting a sweep against Piyush Chawla; the shot didn't touch bat, came off his body and rolled behind to the keeper standing up to the stumps. Unsure where the ball had gone, Yuvraj looked puzzled, and after remaining in his crease for a moment, he strolled out of his ground. Wicketkeeper Robin Uthappa needed two attempts to whip off the bails before the batsman managed to return to his crease.

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Uthappa celebrates Yuvraj's dismissal // BCCI

It was only when Kedar Jadhav and Angelo Mathews took on and blasted Narine in his last eight balls that the Daredevils managed to put up a respectable 8-146 from their 20 overs. Jadhav carved out 10 from the last two balls of Narine’s third over, while Mathews cleared his front foot and lofted the spinner for a couple of sixes before whipping a four through mid-wicket.

Narine had figures of 1-8 from 2.4 overs at one stage but ended with 1-38 from his quota.

It was Yadav’s bowling that never allowed the Daredevils to get away from Kolkata. He conceded 10 from his first two over-spell at the start of the innings, but his best efforts were reserved for the final two overs, the 18th and the 20th of the innings.

He went for six from his third and also removed Jadhav before, on the back of Narine’s 20-run over, he restricted the opposition to just three from his final over.

The Knight Riders got off to a strong start in the chase through Gambhir and Uthappa, with the latter sending the first ball of the innings to the fine leg boundary.

Coulter-Nile, who shared the new ball with Joseph, conceded 10 from his first two overs, but that did not include the four leg-byes he cost his team with one on Uthappa's pads.

And then suddenly in their fifth over, Kolkata lost two wickets. It was Domnic Joseph, coming on for his second spell, who got rid of Uthappa for 13 and then sent back Manish Pandey for his 10th IPL duck - the most in the history of the competition. 

Uthappa’s attempt at muscling an over-pitched ball over mid-off went straight to hand while Pandey upper-cut a short delivery but without much conviction and was caught at third-man.

Coulter-Nile bowled well in his first three overs, picking up the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav for 24, but went for three boundaries in his final spell to end with figures of 1-30 from his four.

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It was a frustrating night for Coulter-Nile and Delhi // BCCI

By the time Yadav fell though, the Knight Riders had already reached 70 and with 10 overs still remaining, the required-rate was never going to be a problem. Duminy's only option was to pick up wickets regularly and he rotated his bowlers around to find someone to provide him with a breakthrough; sadly it materialised only when they were left with just two runs to spare.

Having started with a couple of boundaries off Mathews in the third over of the innings, Gambhir remained busy throughout his 49-ball knock.

If the bowlers pitched it on to his pads, he was happy to flick them through wherever the gap was on the leg-side while he also picked up a couple of boundaries as well as 10 singles and a two through third man.

But he eventually fell to an inside edge off Imran Tahir, gone for his third half-century in four innings this season and the 26th score of more than 50 in his IPL career, the most by any player in the Indian Premier League.

But it was a mere hiccup for the Knight Riders as Ryan ten Doeschate hit the winning runs with 11 balls to spare.