Kolkata: Irfan Pathan's batting blitz got Delhi Daredevils off to a winning start in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as Virender Sehwag's team beat Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets in a rain-curtailed game here at the Eden Gardens on Thursday.
The match was reduced to a 12-over affair after two-and-a-half hours of play was lost due to wet conditions following a spell of rain. However, the capacity crowd didn't go home disappointed and was treated with a close contest in the end as Delhi scored the winning runs in the last over of their chase
Chasing 98 to win, Sehwag (20) and Aaron Finch (30) raced to a 49-run start, laying a solid foundation for Pathan (42 not out off 20 balls) and Glenn Maxwell (3 not out) to score the remaining runs after the openers left in quick succession. Pathan hit three sixes and two fours in his match-winning knock.
After electing to bowl first, Delhi bowlers Morne Morkel (3 for 18), Umesh Yadav (2 for 9) and Roelof van der Merwe (2 for 28) didn't disappoint their skipper as the visitors restricted the hosts to 97 for 9. Allrounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla (26 off 17 balls) was the top-scorer for Kolkata.
Earlier, Morkel rocked Kolkata's top order with back-to-back wickets. He first bowled Jacques Kallis (4) and Manoj Tiwary (0) in successive deliveries and then followed it up with the wicket of Kolkata's skipper Gautam Gambhir, who played a short ball by the tall South African pacer onto his stumps. And the home side was in a real spot of bother when Yusuf Pathan was caught behind off Yadav.
But young Bengal batsman Debabrata Das (18) took the attack to the opposition with two lusty sixes, though his innings was cut short when he got run out after a terrible mix-up with Rajat Bhatia. A Shukla cameo late in the innings took Kolkata to a decent total; however, it was not enough in the end.
In reply, Delhi raced to 48 for no loss in six overs, with Finch and Sehwag swatting the ball hard. But the wickets of Finch, who was clean-bowled by Kallis, and Sehwag, who was caught brilliantly at the long-on fence by Iqbal Abdulla off Bhatia, in quick succession put the match in balance until Pathan's blitz blew away the opposition.
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