The team of the Kolkata Knight Riders played their last match in this season of the IPL in their home ground. They made sure the spectators did not go home with a sad heart or with grudges against the team. The Punjab team was given a taste of defeat by the Kolkata team by 3 wickets just before they are to play the semi-finals which are knock-out matches. Umar Gul was awarded the man of the match for his all round performance.
The Kings XI team chose to bat first on winning the toss. The team had an average opening with Marsh making 40 runs off 31 balls. Hopes was dismissed early on at a score of just 13 runs. This breakthrough was very important and was obtained by Gul as the strength of good opening of this team is hard to match. Sangakkara replaced him and gave a compensatory performance with his 45-balls 64 runs. the captain scored 27 runs off 18 balls and the lower order did not perform very well. The target for the opponents was 175 runs. Umar Gul had by the end of the innings hauled 4 wickets.
When it came to batting, the inspiration from the breakthroughs by Gul affected the captain of the Kolkata team and Ganguly was seen to be playing with a fighting spirit. He survived the entire innings and made 86 runs off 53 balls. Salman butt was the other opener with him but was dismissed on 24 runs. the team had lost 5 wickets when more than 70 runs were required off 30 balls. This seemed improbable but at the end, was accomplished by Ganguly and Gul who made 24 runs off 11 balls and the target was achieved by them.
