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A partnership of 104 runs off just 55 balls between David Hussey and Wriddhiman Shah could not save the day for the Kolkata Knight Riders as the Kings XI Punjab trampled over them, to register their fourth successive win in the Indian Premier League, 2008 on Saturday. Some acute bowling spells by Irfan Pathan and Sreesanth ensured that the Kings XI continued their winning streak in the IPL, 2008.
Both, the innings were filled with some thrilling moments. While the Punjab XI hit 21 runs off their final over, the Knight Riders scored 75 runs between the overs 15 and 19 but still fell short of the target by 9 runs, mainly because of the slow start they got. Kolkata was struggling hard after Sreesanth removed Sourabh Ganguly. Later, Pathan struck twice in an over which ultimately spelled doom for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Pathan was superb with the ball as he swung it back into the right-handed batsmen. Both Mohammad Hafeez and Brad Hodge were dismissed in the space of just 5 balls. After Sreesanth removed Debradata Das, the Knight Riders were 29 for 4 after five overs. After VRV Singh bowled out LR Shukla, the Kolkata Knight Riders seemed to have lost the game. But it was the partnership of David Hussey and the young batsman Widdhiman Saha, who seemed to have almost won the game for the Knight Riders single handedly.
This pair though started their gameplay cautiously playing a couple of overs patiently. But it was not long before Hussey started hitting Gagandeep Singh for some big runs. Earlier Singh had bowled some decent overs but Hussey hit him for 17 runs in an over including a huge six over the long-on. Not only was the pair hitting big runs, but even their running between the wickets was a thing of admiration. With their hard work they brought down the equation to 55 runs off 18 balls. It was now the turn of James Hopes, who was hit by both the batsmen into the crowd. When Gagandeep Singh was hit for 18 runs in his final over, the equation came down to 19 runs off six balls. However, Irfan Pathan controlled himself and he bowled a mix of low full tosses as well as some yorkers. Though the batsmen tried to swing him out of the park in a bid to achieve the target, but all they could achieve in the first three balls were just four runs.
Earlier, Punjab XI won the toss and elected to bat, many of their batsmen failed to continue on their good starts. Three of the batsmen of Punjab reached into the double figure mark but couldn't make it to even 20 runs. Ramnaresh Sarwan was replaced by Sarwan, who did manage to hit some powerful boundaries before getting out to Ashok Dinda at mid-on. Next, Yuvraj Singh also got a decent start but failed to capitalize on it and got stumped while Mahela Jayawardene propelled a big six over midwicket before getting out to a bouncer from Umar Gul to mid-on.
It has been a monumental revival for the Kings XI Punjab after they were at the bottom of the points table. They are now tied for the top spot while Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders have gone in the opposite direction, dropping from the top spot to four points behind the teams in the semi-final.
Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders ( May 03, 2008)
Venue: Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh
Kings XI Punjab: 178/ 6
Kolkata Knight Riders: 169/ 6
Result: Kings XI Punjab won by 9 runs
Man of the Match: Irfan Pathan
