Kolkata, May 7: Kolkata Knight Riders snapped Chennai Super Kings' four-match winning streak with a 10-run victory via Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-interrupted Indian Premier League clash at Eden Gardens, here today.
Chasing a modest 115, the hosts were marching towards the target comfortably despite losing two early wickets—Eoin Morgan (5) and Gautam Gambhir (16).
Jacques Kallis remained cool, displaying some of his trademark drives as he ensured that his side was ahead by 10 runs when the rain stopped play at 61/2 after 10 overs.
Kallis remained unbeaten on 21 from 23 balls while Manoj Tiwary was 15 not out from 12 balls .
With this win, Kolkata have moved to second position in the points table while Chennai now occupy third spot.
Rain had affected the start of the play in the afternoon as the match was delayed by an hour, even as the umpires did not reduce the number of overs.
Brett Lee (4-0-8-0) and Iqbal Abdulla (4-0-15-1) utilised the slow nature of the wicket exceptionally well to restrict Chennai to 114 for four after opting to bat.
Dropped twice, Subramaniam Badrinath top-scored for the Chennai with 54 from 41 balls before he ran himself out in the last ball of the innings.
Albie Morkel hit a-run-a-ball 30 and stitched 65 from 54 balls with Badrinath for the fourth wicket.
The visitors did not have it easy against the Knight Riders as pace spearhead Lee and left-arm spinner Abdulla ensured a slow start for the visitors.
Lee was spot on giving away just five runs from his first spell for three overs while Abdulla provided the first breakthrough in the form of Murali Vijay (5).
The surface was quite slow and the conditions were overcast, as Lee and Abdulla bowled in the right areas to tie down the Super Kings batsmen, who failed to apply themselves.
Michael Hussey (15), Murali Vijay (5) and Suresh Raina (4) batted themselves out in very odd fashions, while skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni did not get to bat.
After Abdulla gave the first breakthrough, Yusuf Pathan via took the prized-scalp of Raina.
Only 12 runs came from their first five overs, while it took them 59 balls to get the first boundary.
It was in the form of a six and in fact the hit by Badrinath could turned into a dismissal but Jaidev Unadkat misjudged the catch to let it go over boundary.
Badrinath was on nine with the team score being 33/2 at that time.
Under the sluggish conditions, Badrinath held on as he stitched a 34-run partnership from 32 balls along with Michael Hussey (15 from 26 balls).
Unadkat again dropped Badrinath this time the Chennai batsman was on 29.
There was light drizzle around the scheduled toss time—3.30pm—while the surrounding areas of the city experienced some showers as the ground was put under thick covers under the cloudy conditions. PTI
