Three wickets in three balls from Rajasthan Royals early on derailed Kolkata Knight Riders' chase as Royals recorded their second win in two matches. Royals gained the advantage early on and held it until the end, with only Manoj Tiwary providing resistance who made 59 from 49.
R Royals never lose any match when they made 160 or over and that did not change as they defended mercilessly at their fortress in Jaipur. They made another poor batting performance from Kolkta who have good batting line but they lost their 1St two matches.
Having put on a comfortable score, Royals' captain Rahul Dravid chose to open the bowling with left-arm spinner Ankeet Chavan. Medium-pacer Amit Singh who made the first breakthrough.He forced Jacques Kalis to play a scooping short an easy catch to Dravid at mid -off with his change of pace. Amit's next delivery angled away from Gautam Gambhir, who could not resist a poke and was caught behind. Royals made it three in three when Chavan trapped Brendan McCullum in front off the next ball.
With their three biggest names out and their total was only 8runs, Knight Riders were going to need something special to compete. This is expecting from Yousuf Pathan.
The big-hitter showed rare composure as he gave himself time to get in and waited for Johan Botha to come on before attacking. But his patience did not last long. He tried to hit short out of park to Siddharth Trivedi slower ball over mid-wicket but was well caught by Brad Hodge.
After Yousuf's dismissal it is looking that the was slipped away from Knight Riders. Tiwary played a useful innings and scored the only half-century of the match. Brett Lee gave him company while hitting a few good shots but Tiwary needed
more support upfront than at the back end. But other hand Kevin Cooper's successful start to the season continued as he finished with three wickets.
A fourth-wicket stand of 64 between Hodge and Ashok Menaria and a late burst from Owais Shah propelled Royals. Hodge accelerated in the 14th over when Gambhir brought Yusuf back. Hodge treated Yusuf with disdain, taking 17 runs off his over. He smacked the first delivery over mid-wicket for six,
cut the second behind point for four and smoked the fourth over long-on. Hodge went on to hit back-to-back fours off Jacques Kallis in his 44 off 29 balls.
His dismissal, caught behind while trying to play a reverse-scoop, opened the door for Owais to finish in style. He blitzed 23 off 11 balls to put Royals in a position from which they had never lost before, and didn't lose today.
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