Akhtar's debut spells bad news for Delhi
Turning out for the Kolkata Knight Riders, Shoaib Akhtar took no time making his presence felt in the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) as he scalped the Delhi top order to grant Kolkata their fifth win of the tournament.
In Match 35 of the IPL played at the Eden Gardens, hosts Kolkata Knight Riders beat the Delhi Daredevils by 23 runs.
Sourav Ganguly, the Kolkata captain won the toss and backed his team to set up a good total in front of his home ground. Going in to bat, Kolkata got off to a slow start but a good innings by Salman Butt and David Hussey saw Kolkata end up with a decent score on a wicket that seemed to favour the bowlers.
Salman Butt opened the batting for Ganguly’s lads and scored a resilient 48 with the help of 7 boundaries. The middle order was bolstered by another solid innings by David Hussey whose run-a-ball 31 with the help of two huge sixes propelled Kolkata to a mediocre-yet-fightable target.
The pitch at the Edens Gardens always had something in it for the bowlers so Kolkata it they had a match on their hands if the bowlers could fire.
And fire they did! IPL debutant Shoaib Akhtar showed why he is still a threat to batsmen worldwide as he dismissed Delhi openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, the two most explosive openers of the IPL in his first two overs. He came back for his third over and scalped two more Delhi wickets to leave the opponents trailing at 28-4 in the fifth over.
Some last-minute respite came in the form of Tillakaratne Dilshan (25) and Amit Mishra (31). But just as Akhtar started with the top order, Laxmi Shukla cleared the Delhi tail with 3 wickets in 5 balls.
The Delhi Daredevils lost the match by 23 runs with 13 balls to spare. If Delhi had only sustained one of their partnerships for a little longer it could well have brought the match down to the wire.
But the Kolkata bowlers capitalized well on their bowler-friendly home pitch and gave the home crowd a reason to go home with a smile on their faces.
Shoaib Akhtar was rightly adjudicated the Player Of The Match.
The Kolkata Knight Riders now exchange places with the Delhi Daredevils on the IPL points table. After playing 9 matches each, Kolkata have accounted for 5 wins while Delhi have managed 4.
The action moves to the Wankhede Stadium at Mumbai on May 14. This encounter will see the Mumbai Indians, back after a week-long hiatus, take on the Chennai Super Kings who seem to have regained lost momentum.
Wednesday’s match will see the return of Sachin Tendulkar who has been declared fit. The star batsman will take over the captaincy from Shaun Pollock for the Mumbai Indians.