Shakib Al Hasan’s left-arm spin was again the star for Kolkata Knight Riders as his two wickets sunk Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League encounter at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata last night.
After bowling three tight overs during Kolkata’s dominant display, Shakib got into the act with two late strikes to restrict the visitors to 81 all out in 15.2 overs.
First it was Amit Singh who was done in by Shakib’s arm ball, rattling the tail-ender’s stumps. Next ball, Shaun Tait missed a tossed up delivery as the ball went straight and Shakib was on a hattrick. Last man Siddharth Trivedi managed to put out the last ball but next over, he too fell to Brett Lee that put an end to Rajasthan’s innings.
Earlier, Lakshmipathy Balaji nailed Shane Watson with a beauty to trigger the Royals collapse during the return game at the Big Bowl.
Balaji also added Ashok Menaria, who top-scored with 21 off 17 balls (including a four and a six), and Ajinkya Rahane to his scalps while Lee, Iqbal Abdulla and Yusuf Pathan took one each.
Chasing a modest target, the home side lost their in-form South Africa batsman Jacques Kallis for a second-ball duck, the right-hander miscuing an attempted pull off paceman Tait high in the air.
However, Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir and MS Bisla (9) steadied the ship before the latter was out to a brilliant catch at shot mid-wicket, leaving the score at 31-2. But with only a small target to chase, Kolkata were all but cruising to their second successive win.
Courtesy of The Daily Star
