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Jacques Kallis made two big early breakthroughs, Sunil Narine continued to confound batsmen and Rajat Bhatia quietly continued to prove an important cog in Kolkata Knight Riders' bowling as they stifled Delhi Daredevils at Feroz Shah Kotla in the clash of the two most impressive teams of the tournament.
Daredevils' two most productive batsmen this season have been Virender Sehwag and Kevin Pietersen, and their consistency had so far shielded the rest of Daredevils' batting from too much scrutiny. With Sehwag finally failing after a record five half-centuries in a row and Pietersen back home, the rest of the line-up couldn't quite deliver.
Brett Lee began with a maiden to David Warner, who was playing his first game of the tournament, but Sehwag and Warner slammed 34 off the next two to provide Daredevils a cracking start. Kallis nipped that stand early by slipping in a length delivery after a couple of shorter ones to trap Sehwag lbw. Warner also didn't last long, nicking behind in Kallis' next over.
That over ended with an angry confrontation between Mahela Jayawardene and Gautam Gambhir after Jayawardene survived a loud and confident shout for caught-behind. In the next Kallis over, there was less doubt about whether Jayawardene edged the ball but he was lucky as wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum spilled a tough chance to his right. He couldn't capitalise on the lives though, as he was run-out attempting a suicidal single. Gambhir under-armed a direct hit and spiritedly celebrated the wicket.
Bhatia and Narine stifled the batsmen, with only 25 runs in a five-over stretch in the middle of the innings. The biggest struggle was for the out of form Ross Taylor, who scratched around for 16 off 27 deliveries, potentially putting his place in jeopardy.
A cameo from Irfan Pathan, who again showed off his clean hitting, lifted Daredevils beyond 150 despite four wickets in the final over from Narine.
Daredevils' two most productive batsmen this season have been Virender Sehwag and Kevin Pietersen, and their consistency had so far shielded the rest of Daredevils' batting from too much scrutiny. With Sehwag finally failing after a record five half-centuries in a row and Pietersen back home, the rest of the line-up couldn't quite deliver.
Brett Lee began with a maiden to David Warner, who was playing his first game of the tournament, but Sehwag and Warner slammed 34 off the next two to provide Daredevils a cracking start. Kallis nipped that stand early by slipping in a length delivery after a couple of shorter ones to trap Sehwag lbw. Warner also didn't last long, nicking behind in Kallis' next over.
That over ended with an angry confrontation between Mahela Jayawardene and Gautam Gambhir after Jayawardene survived a loud and confident shout for caught-behind. In the next Kallis over, there was less doubt about whether Jayawardene edged the ball but he was lucky as wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum spilled a tough chance to his right. He couldn't capitalise on the lives though, as he was run-out attempting a suicidal single. Gambhir under-armed a direct hit and spiritedly celebrated the wicket.
Bhatia and Narine stifled the batsmen, with only 25 runs in a five-over stretch in the middle of the innings. The biggest struggle was for the out of form Ross Taylor, who scratched around for 16 off 27 deliveries, potentially putting his place in jeopardy.
A cameo from Irfan Pathan, who again showed off his clean hitting, lifted Daredevils beyond 150 despite four wickets in the final over from Narine.