KKR win big

Kolkata Knight Riders made their presence felt in the tournament by having stroked an emphatic victory over Perky Preity's Punjab Kings XII,by nine wickets today evening at Durban.Though the match had to be concluded based on the D/L method it was nt short of entertainment and lived upto its expectations as both teams had lost their first match and were keen to draw first blood..Skipper McCullum having won the toss asked the Yuvrajs to bat first in what seemed to be a pitch which would assist the seamers coupled with the overcast conditions.The onus was on the KKR bowlers to get the breakthroughs.Ishant Sharma bowled a very tight & disciplined line to Ravi bopara and Karan Goel,who was clearly troubled by both Ishant and Dinda.Ishant finally got the better of him when a careless swish of his bat edged the ball to the slip cordon and Chris Gayle made no mistakes...Irfan Pathan being promoted higher up the order to accelerate the run rate,played his part really well, despatching the balls to the boundaries..Just when it seemed that the kings XI were running away with the match,it was upto Dada to put the brakes on the scoreboard..In a hurricane twist of tales,Ganguly scalped both the dangerous Irfan and Bopara both in his maiden over..Yuvraj Singh and Sangakara had come out on crucial phase and built up a steady partnership.yuvi however got deceived by a slower delivery by Henriques and soon after Sangakkara expired when he was run out by laxmi Shukla..A few lusty blows by Jayawardena during the slog overs ensured Kings Xi reached 158..

Chris Gayle and McCullum started the KKR innings rather cautiously with ones and twos only..It was only in the third over when Gayle decided to free his arms and lofted Abdulla for a massive six..His intentons were clear and then took the charge to Pathan,having blasted him all over the parks for a flury pf fours and sixes..McCullum too joined the brigade but couldnt last long as he edged a Malik delivery to Sangakkara..However this didnt actuallly help their cause because by that time Gayle was in a killing spree.Brad Hodge was happy playing second fiddle to the big man who was clearly enjoying the run feast..Te score board had soared upto 79-1 in just 7.2 overs when heavy rains lashed the entire Durham city,forcing play to be stopped...Later the match had been called off and KKR won By D/L method...KKR are definitely a relieved bunch of players now after it has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons..However, tehy are not being complacent as they have their next match against the last years champions RR,who have had a disastrous start to their campaigm this year....Meanwhile Punjab Kings XI have to fight it out and produce something spectacular if they are to win against a resilient RCB..

Signing off now...