Marchant de lange picked up three wickets to help Kolkata Knight Riders beat Pune Warriors India by seven runs in their Indian Premier League match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday. Chasing a competitive target of 151 runs to win, Pune managed only 143 for 8 to hand KKR their seventh win this year's IPL.
Pune made a disastrous start losing opener Michael Clarke in the second over, who fell to the de Lange for just one. de Lange struck in his very next over to send backs Robin Uthappa for 17, which put the KKR on top. And then Sunil Narine accounted for the in-form Steven Smith when he had the Australian controversially adjudged lbw.
Struggling at 55 for 5, Pune were in deep trouble, but Sourav Ganguly and Angelo Mathews shared a 73-run stand to put the visitors back on track. However Rajat Bhatia's dismissal of Ganguly sparked another collapse, and Narine allowed just 13 runs from his four overs to leave Pune needing 18 from the final over. De Lange ensured that wouldn't happen as he claimed the wicket of Mathews, leaving Pune 143 for 8 at the end of their 20 overs.
Earlier, Kolkata squandered a brilliant start provided by openers Gautam Gambhir and Brendon McCullum as they were restricted to 150 for 5 by Pune Warriors India. The hosts raced to 98 for 0 after ten overs and a surely 200 were on the cards. The pressure was clearly palpable in the Pune camp as Dinda dropped an easy sitter, giving McCullum a reprieve on 28
Gambhir smashed 56 off 36 balls that included four fours and two sixes and his opening partner, McCullum, scored a patient 42 off 43 deliveries with five fours and a six as they powered the hosts to 113 in the thirteenth over. But from then some brilliant fielding and great bowling by Angelo Mathews inspired a magnificent comeback.
The opening stand was broken when Pune spinner Murali Kartik had the KKR skipper caught by Mithun Manhas in the thirteenth over. After Gambhir's departure, KKR lost another four wickets and struggled to impose themselves on the attack. The second batsmen to go was McCullum when Mathews trapped him in front in the next over and then send back Kallis (1) to put the brakes on the Kolkata.
Pune made stunning comeback in the late overs as he just gave 29 runs off the last five overs with struggling Yusuf Pathan and Debabrata Das found the going tough. Pathan's run of woes continued, as he scored just 11 off 15 balls. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who finished with figures 2 for 26, used his slower variations cleverly to deceive Pathan and Laxmi Shukla for 0.
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