20 overs Kolkata Knight Riders 165 for 8 (Gambhir 64, R Vinay Kumar 2-18) v Royal Challengers Bangalore 123/9 (20 ov)
Gautam Gambhir propelled Kolkata Knight Riders to their best batting performance of the tournament to date but they ended well short of where they seemed headed, with a total in excess of 200 in sight. Gambhir's aggressive start with Jacques Kallis and his partnership with Manvinder Bisla pushed Knight Riders to 125 for 1 in the 14th over but Royal Challengers Bangalore effected a collapse which saw Knight Riders lose seven wickets for 26 runs.
R Vinay Kumar started the stranglehold with wily changes of pace to dry up the runs. Muttiah Muralitharan then brought his hangman ability to the crease and had Bisla stumped on 46 to deepen the pressure. Zaheer Khan enjoyed a double strike in his final over and Vinay Kumar's economical effort was headlined with persistent use of the short ball. Backed up by committed fielding, the Royal Challengers' bowlers conceded 50 runs in the last eight overs.
After two below-par performances with the bat, Gautam Gambhir and Jacques Kallis started with fierce determination to improve on their previous showings. They were helped by an inconsistent start from Royal Challengers' bowlers, whose lengths invited big shots. The opening pair matched each other's intent, with Kallis picking boundaries off Zaheer Khan and Gambhir tearing into both Zaheer and Harshal Patel, whose short balls he dismissed with punishing pulls and then charged down the track to slaughter for six.
Kallis greeted Muralitharan with a flat slog sweep that went all the way and Gambhir ended the over by hitting him over extra cover. Spin was not the wrong choice though, and Daniel Vettori had early success when he brought himself on and found immediate turn and bounce. Kallis backed away to cut him but found a thick edge and was caught by his countryman AB de Villiers.
Bisla was preferred over big-hitters like Yusuf Pathan and Ryan ten Doeschate despite Knight Riders' start and he repaid the faith shown in him. He ensured the run-rate did not dip and began his boundary blitz with a clean strike through the line off Vinay Kumar. He hit the ball with immense power, complementing Gambhir, who showed the deftest of touches with his dab to third man off Muralitharan.
The Knight Riders' captain brought up the fastest half-century of the tournament so far, off 28 balls, with a lofted shot over cover but could not press on as much as he should have. Bisla was stumped three balls later, in the first boundary-free over of the innings and the Knight Riders slid steadily from there.
In a four-over period, only 12 runs were scored and Gambhir was forced to try something different. He reverse paddled the ball off the back of the bat and found the short third man fielder to give Zaheer his first wicket. The procession continued from there, with no-one outside the top three managing to chalk up double figures, leaving Knight Riders short of what could have been.
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