Live: Rain stops Kolkata Knight Riders play in Durban & declare KKR as Winners!

Kolkata Knight Riders posted their maiden win in the IPL when rain made no further play possible against Kings XI Punjab. Kolkata won the tie on the D/L method by 11 runs. Punjab, however, lost their second match to rain.

Kolkata Knight Riders’ Chris Gayle and Brad Hodge were at the crease before rain stopped play at Durban. Both the teams were competing for maiden points.

Earlier, Vikramjeet Malik gave a breather to his side by sending back Kolkata’s Brendon McCullum (21).

In the initial overs, Knight Riders openers Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum sliced the Kings XI bowling attack.

Riding on efficient performances by Irfan Pathan (32) and Yuvraj Singh (38), Kings XI Punjab managed to score 158/6.

Ashok Dinda took his first wicket for the day when he scalped Taruwar Kohli (1) and reduced the oppostion for 131/6.

Kolkata’s Henriques took the crucial wicket of Mohali captain Yuvraj Singh (38). In an over before, Kumar Sangakkara was caught napping between the wickets by Kolkata skipper Brendon McCullum.

Put in to bat first, Ravi Bopara and Karan Goel opened the innings for Kings XI Punjab. Ishant Sharma came in with the new ball for his side and removed Goel for a duck when he gave away an outside edge to Gayle at slips. Irfan Pathan stepped in next.

Ashok Dinda replaced the lanky pacer in the next over and Irfan Pathan’s fireworks took off. He played some solid shots in and outside the ground.

But his outing was soon ended by Kolkata’s former skipper Sourav Ganguly who came to the rescue and spoiled Mohali’s party. He scalped Pathan (32) and Bopara (15) in single over to leave the opposition gasping.

Kolkata’s newly appointed skipper McCullum won the toss and decided to bowl first.

Troubled by injuries that have denied them the services of star players like Shaun Marsh, Brett Lee and S Sreesanth, the Yuvraj Singh-led Kings XI were handed a 10-wicket drubbing by Delhi Daredevils in their rain-truncated opening match on Sunday.

The same night, Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders lost by eight wickets to last year’s bottom-placed Deccan Chargers Hyderabad.

Teams:

Kings XI Punjab:
RS Bopara, K Goel, KC Sangakkara, DPMD Jayawardene, Yuvraj Singh, T Kohli, IK Pathan, VS Malik, PP Chawla, VRV Singh, YA Abdulla

Kolkata Knight Riders:
BB McCullum, CH Gayle, SC Ganguly, BJ Hodge, Yashpal Singh, A Chopra, MC Henriques, LR Shukla, I Sharma, M Kartik, AB Dinda

Credits: NDTVCricket