Kallis and Gambhir stay Knight Riders alive

Kolkata Knight Riders 171 for 1 (Kallis 64*, Gambhir 55*) strike Royal Challengers Bangalore 169 for 9 (Vettori 44, Bhatkal 25) by nine wickets

Kolkata Knight Riders hit Royal Challengers Bangalore by nine wickets in Bangalore, thanks to a winning second-wicket stand by Jacques Kallis and Gautam Gambhir.

South African Kallis ablaze 64 from 47 balls, ably assist by Gambhir who scored an winning 55 from just 31 delivery, as they chase down Bangalore's total of 169 with two and a half overs to spare.

Australian opening batsman Brad Haddin helped KKR to a flying start with a knock of 42 before he was fixed by Virat Kohli off the bowling of Daniel Vettori.

Earlier, New Zealand's Vettori top-scored for Bangalore with 44 in the middle of their innings after KKR won the toss and put them in to bat.

Bangalore lost two early wickets when Kallis bowled Chris Gayle for 25 before Virat Kohli was out for a duck when Gambhir wedged him off the bowling of Brett Lee.

Raajoo Bhatkal put up some fight with Vettori with a seventh-wicket stand of 61 but Bangalore's total never looked to be sufficient.

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Botha: We played and execute our plan

subsequent their 50-run win over the Red backs in the NCL T20, Warriors captain Johan Botha said they played to the plan and are looking onward to the challenges ahead.

"Two out of two at the start of the competition is always important," he told reporters after Warriors scored their second succeeding win in the tournament.

He was all praise for Jon-Jon Smuts, whose knock of 88 off 65 balls helped the South African team set a huge total of 171 in 20 over’s.

"After 12 overs, we stress-free a little bit but the guys took it to 170. We knew it was not going to be easy for the team batting second," he said.

He also hails his bowlers for making early inroads by claim three wickets in first six overs.

Botha said he was look forward to the next match next to Kolkata Knight Riders on Oct 1.

"Three out of three will take us to the knockout. Our goal is to go to the play-offs. Then we will be two away from winning the tournament," he said.

In the last group B match, Warriors will face Somerset, one of the three qualifiers for the main contest.

"They have good international players. It is not going to be easy but the way we are playing at the moment, we are look forward to the challenge," Botha added.

"Obviously, it was great presentation. Today it was me. Tomorrow someone else will be there," said Smut, who also claims one wicket.

"The track was good to bat for six hours but after that it got slow. It was bit difficult from 7 to 14 but clearly we got used to this situation," he said.

Losing Captain Michael Klinger felt that his side did not execute the basic skills well. "They have done better than us," was how he summed up the outcome.

"We gave away too many runs at the start. We did not carry out the bowling well and then we kept loosing wickets frequently and the run rate kept going up," he said.

The skipper, however, said they got sufficient match practice before and also after inward in India. "This is not an excuse," he said and hoped that his team would lift its game in the remaining three group matches.

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Somerset win thriller to eliminate Auckland from Champions League Twenty20

Somerset 126 for 6 (Snell 34*, Hildreth 34) hit Auckland 125 for 7 (Vincent 47*) by four wickets

Somerset opened their Champions League Twenty20 qualification campaign with a theatrical final-ball victory over the Auckland Aces.

Alfonso Thomas hit the last ball of the innings over a packed infield for the single the Sabres essential to secure a four-wicket win.

After restrict the New Zealand T20 champions to 125 for seven, Somerset made serious work of their chase until a 61-run stand between James Hildreth (34) and Steve Snell (34 not out).

Hildreth was brilliantly run out from the penultimate delivery to leave his side still needing one from the final ball, a task Thomas manage with a lofted drive over cover.

Victory means Somerset will reach the group stage should they win their second and final qualifier next to the Kolkata Knight Riders tomorrow evening.

After Somerset lost Saturday's Clydesdale Bank 40 final to Surrey they had less time to lick their wounds and were without Craig Kieswetter and Jos Buttler, who are not existing until the group stage due to England duty, as well as skipper Marcus Trescothick.

Just as at Lord's at the weekend, it looked like one more faltering batting presentation would cost them when they slip to 64 for five in their chase.

But Hildreth and Snell joint for the highest stand of the match and, when they took 15 from the last but one over, victory looked certain with five needed from the final six balls.

There was a final twist; however, as Hildreth was wedged short by Colin Munro's throw from the deep attempt the winning run before Thomas finally proved match-winner.

Somerset earlier reduced the Aces to 14 for three, with Peter Trego claim two of the early wickets as well as the dangerous Martin Guptill wedged by Hildreth at long-on.

Lou Vincent and Gareth Hopkins then put on the best stand of the Aces' innings, causal 49 runs previous to the latter was run out by Arul Suppiah's direct hit from the deep.

That left Vincent to anchor the innings with an victorious 47 from as many balls that prove just short of sufficient as the Aces, who also suffered a tight two-run loss to the Knight Riders yesterday, were eliminate.

Auckland squad: GJ Hopkins (c), AR Adams, JHK Adams, MD Bates, C de Grandhomme, MJ Guptill, RM Hira, AK Kitchen, BP Martin, CS Martin, KD Mills, C Munro, RJ Quiney, DR Tuffey, L Vincent

Somerset squad: AC Thomas (c), AWR Barrow, JC Buttler, NRD Compton, AJ Dibble, GH Dockrell, JC Hildreth, GM Hussain, M Kartik, C Kieswetter, SP Kirby, CAJ Meschede, SD Snell, AV Suppiah, PD Trego, RE van der Merwe

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Win keeps Kolkata in chase for semi final

Kolkata Knight Riders 119 for 3 (Gambhir 54*) strike Pune Warriors 118 for 7 (Yuvraj 24, Balaji 2-7, Shakib 2-16) by seven wickets

Kolkata Knight Riders reserved up their shove for an Indian Premier League top mark with a seven-wicket succeed over Pune Warriors in Mumbai.

Playing their last but one group game, the Knight Riders knock off the necessary total of 119 in 16.4 overs. Captain Gautam Gambhir led them home with 54 off 46 balls, with Manoj Tiwary adding 24 and Yusuf Pathan 29.

Kolkata had previous spun the ball to maximum result to limit Pune to 118 for seven from their 20 overs. Pathan, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan and Lakshmipathy Balaji take two wickets each.

England batsman Eoin Morgan was on the counter for Kolkata, who won the toss and unspecified control early on as Pathan and Iqbal Abdulla dismiss openers Jesse Ryder (one) and Manish Pandey (16) correspondingly.

Spin sustained to anguish Pune, as Shakib detached Callum Ferguson (16) and Sourav Ganguly (18) approximately the halfway mark.

Pune were reel at 79 for five when Pathan got his second, Robin Uthappa wedged by Brett Lee for 12.

Yuvraj Singh (24) help mount a late recovery - in a 34-run stand with Sachin Rana (18) - before he was trapped following by Shreevats Goswami off Balaji.

The Warriors then attempt a fight back with the ball, Alfonso Thomas dismiss Goswami (six) in the first over, but member opener Gambhir put paid to Pune's hopes.

Tiwary common a 46-run second-wicket stand with Gambhir before unfortunately playing onto his leg base off the bowling of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, but Pathan was on hand to turn Kolkata closer to conquest with his usual slog style.

Gambhir ambled away to a half-century in 43 balls - final with seven boundaries to his name - and oversaw a at ease victory in spite of Pathan's late removal from office to Wayne Parnell.

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Shah Rukh confident about KKR's probability

Bollywood superstar and chief owner of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Shah Rukh Khan is confident of his team creation it to the play-offs of the ongoing IPL.

"It is a big match on Thursday. We don't play independently, we play as a team. I am not anxious but I am concerned. Earlier at Bangalore, our match was shortened due to rains so I felt bad. If we get a possibility to play a full game then we will optimistically win. I hope we will be in the semifinals," Shah Rukh told journalists in front of KKR's crucial match next to Pune Warriors at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Thursday.

KKR, which is currently in the top four in the points table, wants at smallest amount a win to make sure their spot in the play-offs, listed for May 24 and 25.

Asked why previous KKR Captain Sourav Ganguly was absent from the guest list at Shah Rukh's party at his house lately, the actor said, "The party was for all the players of Kolkata Knight Riders. It was for the first time that KKR had come to Mumbai so I consideration of having a party at my house. I had not invited any other player and I am sure if I had invited, they would have come."

After going unsold in the players' sale earlier this year, former India captain Ganguly made a theatrical entry into IPL 4 when he was sign up by debutants Pune Warriors India as a substitute for upset pacer Ashish Nehra.

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Irfan takes encouragement from Yusuf

Yusuf Pathan, who has made a stain with his volatile batting, has also made a feeling on his brother Irfan, who now needs to follow in his footsteps.

The younger of the two Pathans said he hoped to duplicate the presentation of his brother, who made a quick-fire 47 next to Deccan Chargers for Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday night ten ways to being named Man of the Match.

"Hopefully my parents will also be praying for me, when I'm on the earth," he said.
"I'm surely looking for better performance from myself and its departing to happen. There has been some perfection with my bowling and batting in the IPL matches so distant and I will like to do more. The more balls I face and more balls I bowl in the matches I am going to get better and better."

"If I stay playing well and do what I'm at best... presentation will come," the Delhi Daredevils players said adding that he wished to move ahead by taking one pace at a time and not putting too much force on himself.

Thursday sees Delhi play Deccan Chargers, and Pathan said the game would be an motivating contest. "Deccan Chargers and we both haven't done that well," he said. "We want to make certain that we play really well next to the Chargers.

"Obviously, we haven't completed well as a team so far in the IPL this period. There are still five more matches to go and if we play well in these entire matches and win, we will still qualify and if that doesn't happen we still require making sure that we are playing for our pride," he added.

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King 'Sourav Ganguly' Comeback to IPL 4 with Pune Warriors

After disappearing unsold in the players' public sale, Sourav Ganguly on Tuesday made a theatrical come back to the IPL by signing up for Pune Warriors as replacement for Ashish Nehra.

"We were coming up for Ashish Nehra's health report and ultimately the report came on Monday. I was already in talks with Ganguly and we determined that the amount of practice that Sourav has in cricket will no uncertainty help the team. So we finalised Ganguly last night," Pune Warriors Team Director Abhijit Sarkar said referring to the finger damage that Nehra has been treatment.

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who played for Kolkata Knight Riders for three IPL season captain them in two editions, went unsold in the January players' sale in spite of a rather modest base price of 400,000 US dollars.

The 38-year-old refuses a mentor's role with KKR after that and there had been conjecture of a possible rejoinder through one more franchise. The left-handed batman was first required by Kochi Tuskers Kerala but their request was discarded by the IPL's Governing Council.

However, he sign on the sprinkled line for Pune on Monday, giving a leader impetus to the side which has lost six matches on the run after starting hopefully with a pair of back-to-back wins. The IPL leading council had allowed Ganguly to play after the Pune Franchise sent a submission on Monday for his signing.
"They (Pune Warriors) approach me on Monday and I have established it," said Ganguly after he was sign by Pune. Pune Warriors have missing six matches in the IPL this year.

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Kolkata fight rear to keep Delhi bottom

Kolkata Knight Riders 148 for 7 (Tiwary 61*) beat Delhi Daredevils 131 for 9 (Abdulla 3-25)

It was a sweet return for Gautam Gambhir as Kolkata Knight Riders beat Delhi Daredevils by 17 runs to nick up their fourth win in the IPL in Delhi on Thursday.

Manoj Tiwary is the Man of the Match

Manoj Tiwary: I thank the bat sponsor for giving me a great bat, and I'm clever to get the big hits. Gambhir keeps forceful me to play till the end, and that's what I did. Shah Rukh is very helpful, he gives us the motivation. I would like to continue and add in every game.

Gambhir: It was very significant to get the impetus with us, the guys show a lot of extreme anxiety and it worked out. I didn't be expecting so much of spin, Abdulla did really well with the ball and Tiwary set it up initially, hope he continues his good run. It was very important for us to protect this practical total. My heart and soul is with KKR now, it is not with Delhi any longer and you need such changes.

Sehwag: The batsmen didn't take the everyday jobs, Kolkata played better than us and that's why they won. I am still trying to get the mixture right, it is not working at the instant and hope that we'll turn it approximately in Kochi.

The Knights make merry - They required getting a win below their belt, a fine innings from Manoj Tiwary gave them some expect, and some good bowling by Lee and Co. has helped KKR end up on the winning side. Comprehensive stuff, one must say. Sehwag in progress off really well, but wickets kept falling. It was hard for the lower order to keep up to the required run rate and they fell 17 runs short. And with this win, KKR move up to the second place in the points table.

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KKR coach: We are eye top-four stain

Kolkata Knight Riders' coach Dav Whatmore on Wednesday said that his main task at the direct is to take his team to the top four in the Indian Premier League.

KKR will be distressed to get their IPL campaign back on track when they take on Delhi Daredevils at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Thursday, but the coach said he was not too concerned about his team's two back-to-back losses.

"We do not want to read too much into the circumstances right now. This is such a format where you win a couple and lose a couple. At the end of it, making it to the top four will matter," Whatmore said on the eve of the match on Wednesday.

While Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman Virat Kohli term the Kotla wicket as the best he has ever played on, Delhi captain Virender Sehwag affirmed that the track was not to his liking.

Whatmore, however, said that the wicket looks good. "It looks to be a good wicket. Watch the last two matches and it look as if it help faster bowlers."
On whether it will be attractive to see Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir most important their respective teams in the IPL next to each other, Whatmore said some "good competition is on cards".

"They know each other's game very well. They will share the secrets with their respective teams to their advantage. Viru is a much appreciated player, Gautam is also very good. There is good contest on cards," said Whatmore.

Insisting that apart from Mumbai Indians, all the other teams have been not in agreement in the contest, Whatmore said, "I would suggest that you do not look at the table and go into the match, rather you should win a few and then look at the table.

"At this point of time, way onward is to win as many matches as likely," he said. Asked if batting all-rounder Rajat Bhatia was a weak link in the Kolkata outfit, Whatmore said it was unjust to single him out.

"I believe it is unjust to single out Rajat because I don't think he has got honest enough opportunities where he could have made a difference. He is as precious a player as others," explain Whatmore.

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