Against Chennai, Gautam Gambhir held himself back, coming in late at No. 6 and making one run. The Kolkata Knight Riders captain showed greater sense today in coming one-down, hammering 75 (44b) to set up a nine-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals.
It was the most brutal Gambhir innings in recent times. Coming in at the quick fall of Manvinder Bisla, the Kolkata captain launched an all-out attack on Rajasthan. He stepped out to loft Nayan Doshi for a six to get the innings going before taking four fours in an Amit Singh over. A 28-ball fifty was completed. At the other end, Jacques Kallis calmly collected 80 (65), his third fifty in a row in the tournament, to win back the Orange Cap.
Royals captain Shane Warne had no answer to this powerful build-up. Gambhir and Kallis added 152 unbeaten runs to finish off the chase. The nervousness that marked Kolkata's approach in previous games seems gone. Their dug-out seemed a happy place. With their second win, they've jumped into the top-four.
Earlier in the day, Kolkata elected to field here at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Rahul Dravid and Ashok Menaria built up Rajasthan nicely with a steady 52-run stand. Rajasthan had Ross Taylor and Shane Watson to follow. Yusuf Pathan bowled one over in which he dismissed Dravid and Menaria both.
Taylor (35 off 22b) and Watson (22 off 13b) brought out the big hits, but this was a flat wicket and 159-4 seemed under-par.
And here's a snippet from the match that stood out as a reminder that there's place for old school trickery in a game where spinners are prone to dart the ball into batsmen's pads.
In the 17th over by Shakib Al Hasan, Watson slog-swept a six. It was the second time Watson had sent Shakib over the ropes today. Shakib by now must have been sick of Watson. In the recently concluded ODI series between Australia and Bangladesh, Watson hit 20 sixes in three matches.
The Bangladesh captain's response to that six was another delivery in the same hitting area. It was a little flat but not quick through the air. Watson set himself up for another slog-sweep. But this time, the ball dipped, turned nicely past Watson's bat, and crashed into the stumps.
Shakib celebrated knowing exactly what he had pulled off. He could have fired in a fast ball and perhaps restricted Watson to a single. But he invited the big hit and took the wicket. It probably saved Kolkata about 20 runs. In the end, maybe this is why they won.
Kolkata Knight Riders 160 for 1 (Gambhir 75*, Kallis 80*) beat
Rajasthan Royals 159 (Dravid 35, Taylor 35*) by nine wickets
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