Yusuf Pathan played a blistering knock of 48 runs of just 18 balls to give his team 9th win in IPL twenty20 to become first team to secure the semi final birth of IPL 2008. Chasing a target of 148 runs for win Rajasthan Royals wrapped up the match in just 16.3 overs with the loss of 4 wickets.
Yusuf Pathan came out to bat when his team struggling at 69/4 in the 10th over but he took the charge and hammered the ball all around the park. Kolkata Knight Riders fielder did miss some run outs in between but it was the day of Yusuf Pathan and his inning saves his team from the defeat. Y.Pathan and Md. Kaif (34 runs of 31 balls) put 81 runs of just 41 balls for the fifth wicket under pressure.
After this loss Kolkata Knight Riders hopes of making it to the semi finals is almost over only some miracle can gave them a push to last four. For this to happen they first need to win their all remaining matches and hopes that few of the other team’s will loose their remaining matches.
Earlier Royals captain Shane Warne won the toss and put Kolkata Knight Riders into bat. Kolkata Knight Riders once again didn’t manage to get the start they were looking for and kept loosing wickets at regular interval. Only Saurav Ganguly (32 runs of 34 balls) and D.Das (31 runs of 20 balls) able to spend some time in the middle and with the help of this they manage to get to 147/8 in their 20 overs.
David Hussey once again failed in trying to force the pace and the team was reduced to 95-4 in the 15th over. The other batsmen threw their bats around but could not get the better of an attack that has slowly but surely proved to be one of the best on view.
If Patel did the trick early on, left-arm seamer Sohail Tanvir ensured there was no fight-back from the home side to finish with 3-26 including the important scalps of Laxmi Rattan Shukla and Debabrata Das.
Y.Pathan was declared Man of the Match.
Match Summary
Kolkata Knight Riders– 147/8 in 20 Overs
S.Ganguly– 32 D.Das – 31
S.Tanvir– 4-0-26-3 M.Patel– 4-1-22-2
Rajasthan Royals– 150/4 in 16.3 Overs
Y.Pathan– 48* Md. Kaif- 34*
U.Gul– 3.3-0-30-2 S.Ganguly– 2-0-24-1
Highlights IPL twenty20 – Rajasthan Royals Vs Kolkata Knight Riders
