The Kolkata Knight Riders lost another match in their home ground today. It was against the Rajasthan Royals and they have managed to get a well-deserved place in the final four of the Indian Premier League. They won this match by 6 wickets with 21 balls still remaining with them. Yousuf Pathan was once again awarded the man of the match for his superb performance which got them the victory.
It was the decision of the Rajasthan Royals who chose to field first on winning the toss. Salman Butt and Hafeez opened strike for the Kolkata team. The latter was dismissed on 4 runs whereas Butt managed to get 24 off 20 balls. Ganguly came in at number three and managed 32 runs to get back stability in the team. This was done by him along with Das who made 31 runs off 20 balls. Rest of the batsmen could not score higher than mid-tens and the team score went to 147 runs for the Rajasthan Royals to chase. Sohail Tanvir obtained 3 wickets in his spell whereas Patel managed two against the Kolkata batsmen.
Smith and Asnodkar opened strike for the Rajasthan Royals. Like the opponents, one of the openers, Asnodkar was lost on a score of 5 runs whereas Smith lingered on till he could make 24 runs. Tanvir then came in along with him but could survive only for 13 runs. Kaif came in and along with Watson, started to get some pace again. It was when Watson was dismissed that the situation started to look doubtful. But the Pathan Magic struck at that time. He made 48 runs off 18 balls and Kaif supported him with his 34 runs very well. These two got the victory for the team and the latter was suitably rewarded for that too. This man seems to be really improving and has shown immense power and skill in the IPL.
