and it ends in fitting fashion. Another play and a miss outside off, KKR have prevailed easily, by 39 runs.
KKR vs Kings XI, 23rd match at Mohali, IPL, Mar 27 2010 - Ball by Ball Commentary
A great result this for Kolkata, who have gone a long time without a win, after winning the first couple of games. They came out with a plan today, radical as it was, to keep wickets for a really late end-burst. Chris Gayle got some lucky runs off Brett Lee's first over, giving them the cushion to consolidate. Ganguly and Tiwary did that, in scratchy fashion to begin with and they both got better with every passing over. Tiwary started off, more like Tavare, stodgy and slow, but opened up in style towads the end, plundering 21 off Irfan's last over to get 183.
Punjab's chase, well. Little said about it the better. KKR were without their best bowler - Murali Kartik - today, and were not at the best on the field, but KXIP did not get going at all. Bopara's fall in the first over left them gasping, and after Yuvraj fell to a sensational catch from Tiwary, the fight had been knocked out. Mahela and Sanga got absolutely no timing going. The writing was on the wall well before the end.
KKR move to number five on the leader-board. Below them are three semi-finalists from the first edition of the IPL - Delhi, Chennai and Punjab - three teams that have lost their way in staggering fashion.
Hang on for the presentation.
Sangakkara: "I never got going, neither did Mahela, and left too much for the bottom half. We were trying to find the best positions for players to bat, but we are yet to find it. Only one way to go now - up."
Ganguly: "Good to get a win. To be honest, our batting dipped against Chennai and Rajasthan. As I said after losing to Mumbai, we finally have got the x-factor, an extra 10-15 runs. I have been in decent form, a couple of good thirties, good to get a fifty today. We spend a lot of time deciding which overseas players to play, but as long as the 7 Indian players do well, we will be in good shape. Anyone can come back in this format. Rajasthan have shown it by winning 3 in 3. We are going to play freely and hopefully keep winning."
Man of the match is Manoj Tiwary: "Today the wicket was very good to bat on, not much lateral movement. I took my time, to get my eye in and later accelerated. I wanted to do well and score big.. I had to take that catch, Yuvi is such a good player, it felt good to take it and helped me relax." Good on ya Manoj! Great catch that was.
That winds it up from us. Do check out Sriram Veera's match bulletin that captures the highs and lows, the ebbs and flows of this game. On behalf of scorer Sanjay Murari and the rest of the team at Cricinfo, this is Nitin Sundar signing off.
nice short ball again, angling into Lee who guided it down to third man. One ball to go.
good yorker again, outside off, Lee inside edges it and takes off, Saha misses the stumps that would have got Lee and delayed the finish by a bit.
yorker wide of off stump, can't get it away and they run a cheeky single, straight to Saha
fulltoss on leg stump, Lee tries to pull and can't get past mid on
bouncer, Lee is late on it, and gets a top-edge down to fine leg. KXIP have got more mis-hits to the boundary than proper shots tonight.
finishes off this time, with a length slower ball that Lee bunts down to long on
Bond lets out a roar as he puts a lot of effort into his last ball, to fellow tear-away Lee, but gets carried away a bit and it is a wide for height
caught Bond, bowled Bond! Another fast bouncer, Irfan is so late on the pull it pops up tamely for Bond to take it on his follow through. The old fat lady must be getting bored waiting for this to end.
fast and short again, Goel is late on the pull, and it goes back towards Bond who half-fields
full-pace bouncer this time, 145 kph, and Goel again can't get it down to third man
nice show bouncer, at 125 kph, Goel can't connect as he tries to run it down to third man.
finally! Goel's had enough of it all, picks the length ball and swings high over midwicket
full this time, at pull Angelo-pace, but Goel can only get it straight to long on
monotonous. Mathews again delivers on a length at 116 kph, the pull trickles down to midwicket
again, length ball, slow outside off and no KXIP batsman has got timing consistently today
another slow bouncer, 119 kph, pulled away to deep square leg
slower ball, angling across and guided away towards third man
another slow bouncer, from Mathews, Pathan waits and plays the pull, but can't time it as it runs down to square leg
this time, beaten by the sheer lack of pace! Nicely done by Bond, on a length at 117 kph, Goel's into the shot by the time the ball goes past him, misses leg stump through to the keeper
Over 20 • KXIP 144/6
KKR won by 39 runs