Knight Riders cruise to five-wicket win over Chargers

Cuttack, April 23 (IANS) Deccan Chargers slumped to their fifth consecutive loss in

the Indian Premier League (IPL) losing to Kolkata Knight Riders by five wickets at

the Barabati Stadium here Sunday.

Knight Riders' bowlers had a great day in the office never allowing Deccan Chargers

to get a foothold in the game. Lakshmipathy Balaji was the pick of the Knight Riders

bowlers taking two for 22 as Deccan were restricted to 126 for seven.

The Knight Riders cruised to fourth win in the tournament with Gautam Gambhir

scoring 30 off 28 balls as Kolkata scored 127 for five with an over to spare.

It was a good team effort by the Knight Riders with Gambhir, Jacques Kallis (23) and

Manoj Tiwary (30 not out) chipping in with crucial runs.

Gambhir gave Knight Riders a quick start but they lost wickets consistently. Kallis

and Tiwary steadied the ship with big hitting Yusuf Pathan (6) failing with the bat

once again.

Tiwary and Kallis forged a crucial 33-run stand to take Kolkata over the line. South

African pacer Dale Steyn was the pick of the bowlers taking two for 24.

Deccan put into bat, after rain had delayed the start of play, made a slow start.

Skipper Kumar Sangakkara (12) trying to up the ante got his middle stumps knocked

off by Balaji. Parthiv Patel (23) and Shikhar Dhawan (50) were looking good at the

crease but a mix-up between the two ended the wicketkeeper's innings prematurely.

After Patel's departure, Deccan never recovered and lost wickets at regular

intervals. Dhawan, who hit four fours and a six, got out trying to hoick Rajat

Bhatia over the boundary but could only find the fielder.

Subsequently, Deccan's innings fell apart as Knight Riders bowlers really put some

pressure and didn't allow the batsman to get away.

Balaji bowled a brilliant penultimate over giving away just four runs and taking one

wicket.