Kolkata Knight Riders won by nine wickets and with nine deliveries to spare. It shouldn't have been that easy but Gautam Gambhir and Jacques Kallis starred in a supremely well-paced chase as Kolkata successfully hunted down a potentially tough 160-run target on a sluggish track in Jaipur.
In sixth over Gambhir took 18 runs in Amit Sing's over, where two shots were risky shot. This was first turning point in this game.The second turning point was Gambhir's contest with Shane Warne, who introduced himself in the seventh over. Gambhir cut his third delivery through the covers, and slog swept the first ball of the 10th over to collect another four.
Gambhir found great support in Kallis, who was instrumental in starting the chase in a positive fashion. He lifted Ashok Menaria's left-arm spin for a four and a six over long-off in the third over, whipped Shane Watson to midwicket and slashed Nayan Doshi through backward point. He dropped anchor once Gambhir took over the baton.
In the 12th over, Yusuf Pathan had a double strike - Dravid didn't connect with a slog and Menaria swatted a return catch, and the stage was set for the two big hitters. Rajasthan seized momentum by looting 14 runs in the 16th over with Taylor spanking a long hop and a full toss from L Balaji for sixes.
There was a mini-contest too on show: Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh's captain,who saw Watson wreck their side only few days back was entrusted with the task of bowling at him. Watson beat Shakib Al Hasan for a straight six in the 14th over and slog-swept him over wide midwicket for another six in the 17th over. Shakib slowed up the pace on the next delivery and Watson was bowled as he missed another attempted slog sweep. Rajasthan were 125 for 4 at that stage, and Taylor stayed till the end to guide them to a good total. In this game man of the match is Goutam Gambhir for his outstanding performance.
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