Kolkata Knight Riders managed to chase down Deccan Charger's paltry total with ease.
Match as it happened
Scorecard
Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Deccan Chargers by five wickets in a rain-affected Indian Premier League match at the Barabati stadium, here.
They have suffered fifth defeat in a row and risk going out of the tournament but Deccan Chargers skipper Kumar Sangakkara said their bowlers have done well and it's the batting that has not clicked much.
Deccan put on a modest 126 for seven against Kolkata Knight Riders and went on to lose the match by five wickets.
The Sri Lankan also took solace from the fact that at least they are making life difficult for their rivals. He said they did not have enough runs on the board despite making a good start.
"We got a great start, was a great platform. We should have got 150, but KKR fielded brilliantly. We can talk about another missed catch probably, but we bowled well, and made it difficult for KKR," Sangakkara said.
Kolkata skipper Gautam Gambhir also appreciated the way Deccan bowlers bowled and made it a tight contest.
"The wicket was low, credit to Deccan for the way they bowled. It was a matter of applying themselves, and Manoj and the others did that," he said.
KKR paceman Brett Lee, who bowled 15 dot balls in his four overs, was declared Man-of-the-Match.
"We summed the wicket up pretty well today. We tried to put the new ball up there to try and get the nicks, but then we took pace off it," he said.
Dropping catches did not help the cause of Deccan as they even dropped Das's catch in the 17th over, which could make it a more tight contest.
Kolkata's chase was far from impressive as they too, like their rivals, kept losing wickets. First to go was Brendon McCullum (10) and then Manvinder Bisla (10).
Runs were hard to come by due to superb efforts by Styen and Amit Mishra. Steyn had trapped McCullum and Mishra cleaned up Bisla.
KKR Skipper Gautam Gambhir (30) made a good start but squandered it, making the job all the more difficult for his side. The modest looking target started appearing as a mountain to climb.
Earlier, Deccan had got a good start through Kumar Sangakkara and Dhawan but could not capitalise as they lost wickets regularly.
Sangakkara (12) and Dhawan took some time to settle but once they had a feel of pitch they played shots confidently.
Dhawan hit a huge six off Yusuf Pathan, a daring pull off fast and furiuos Lee and then a lofted cover drive off the same paceman to accelerate the scoring.
Sangakkara and Dhawan had put on 37 together when Balaji castled the Sri Lankan to break the partnership. It affected the scoring although Parthiv Patel did a good job at number three.
Patel contributed 23 off 19 balls but an attempt to steal a non-existent double resulted in the diminutive player's run out. Dhawan turned down the call but Patel could not make his ground in time and left in utter disgust.
There were many a overs that went without a boundary and dismissal of big hitting Cameron White (10) in the first ball of the 15th over ony added to the woes of the Hyderabadi side.
Dhawan, who was earlier scoring freely, did not hit a boundary between his 30 to 50 and holed out to Debabrata Das off Rajat Bhatia just after reaching his half-century.
Tight bowling by Lee, Balaji and Narine kept Deccan batsmen under pressure. All the responsibility to give some respectability to Deccan score was on JP Duminy but the South Afican could contribute 16 off 15 balls.
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