Ganguly and Gayle carve win for Kolkata

On 21st April 2009, Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders competed against each other at Kingsmead, Durban. The captain of Punjab was Yuvraj Singh and that of Kolkata was Brendon McCullum. Kolkata won the toss and opted to field first.

Ganguly shines with the ball

Karan Goel was the first to depart having scored a duck in 7 balls. Then, Irfan Pathan took charge of the batting and smashed 1 sixer and 5 boundaries in 17 deliveries and amassed 32 runs. The score looked promising at 47 for 1. At this juncture, Sourav Ganguly was introduced in the bowling attack. Pathan attempted a sixer in the deep midwicket region and Murali Kartik caught him smartly at the boundary. Only 2 deliveries later, Ravi Bopara, the opener, edged Ganguly to Brendon McCullum. Ganguly had thrust a genuine setback to the Punjab innings which now seemed tottering at 48 for 3. Further, Kumar Sangakkara added 26 runs in 24 deliveries with the aid of 2 fours. Yuvraj Singh shone with the bat and in 28 deliveries bashed 38 runs. This knock included 2 sixers and 3 fours. The innings was nicely ended by Mahela Jayawardene who remained unbeaten on 31 in 19 balls. He hit 3 fours and 1 sixer. Punjab scored 158 runs for 6 wickets in 20 overs.

Gayle cuts loose

McCullum and Chris Gayle offered a solid start of 57 runs in 5.3 overs. McCullum departed on 21 off 16 balls. Gayle hammered 4 sixers and 2 fours on way to 44 off 26 deliveries. He remained unbeaten till the end. In 9.2 overs, Kolkata was 79 for 1. Then, the dark clouds gathered and rain made play impossible.

Kolkata won the match by 11 runs by Duckworth-Lewis method. Gayle was honored as Man of the Match.