Three In A Row

The Kings Men shadowed by the SuperKings!

Matthew Hayden and Mahendra Singh Dhoni starred as Chennai Super Kings handed Kolkata
Knight Riders their first defeat yesterday and went to the top of the Indian Premier League.

Dhoni, the most expensive player in the league, sealed a nine-wicket win with a six, while Australia opener Hayden clubbed an unbeaten 70 off 49 balls in Chepauk, Chennai which earned him the man of the match. The hosts reached their target with 18 balls to spare and now have three wins from as many matches.

Earlier, the foundations for Chennai’s victory came from impressive bowling, notably by New Zealand allrounder Jacob Oram, who took three wickets. He removed his big-hitting compatriot Brendon McCullum for 24 and Ricky Ponting in successive deliveries as Kolkata struggled to gain momentum in their innings. Only Laxmi Ratan Shukla held the innings together with a crucial innings of 42. Ganguly seemed be determined to carry his bat through while wickets fell at the other end. But he too made an exit trying to clear Joginder Sharma over the covers. His 12 off 19 balls had just one four.

Spinner Muttiah Muralitharan conceded just 12 runs from a miserly four overs as Kolkata were restricted to 147 for nine.

Kolkata's first fifty came off 30 balls but as wickets fell at regular intervals, the next 50 runs took 57 deliveries.While Muttiah Muralitharan remained the most economical bowler with 4-0-12-0, P Amarnath claimed two wickets in four overs conceding 29 runs.

The scores:

Kolkata Knight Riders: S. Ganguly c Badrinath b Joginder 12, B. McCullum c Raina b Oram 24, R. Ponting c Raina b Oram 0, W. Saha b Goni 27, D. Hussey c Badrinath b Amarnath 0, M. Hafeez c Joginder b Amarnath 16, L.R. Shukla (run out) 42, A. Agarkar c Muralitharan b Goni 11, M. Kartik c & b Oram 3, I. Sharma (not out) 4, A. Dinda (not out) 0; Extras (lb-2, w-4, nb-2): 8; Total (for nine wkts. in 20 overs): 147.

Fall of wickets: 1-32, 2-32, 3-61, 4-64, 5-70, 6-98, 7-121, 8-127, 9-145.

Chennai Super Kings bowling: Oram 4-0-32-3, Goni 4-0-40-2, Amarnath 4-0-29-2, Muralitharan 4-0-12-0, Joginder 4-0-32-1.

Chennai Super Kings: P. Patel c Ishant b Agarkar 21, M. Hayden (not out) 70, M. Dhoni (not out) 43; Extras (b-1, lb-4, w-12, nb-1): 18; Total (for one wkt. in 17 overs): 152.
Fall of wicket: 1-66.

Kolkata Knight Riders bowling: Dinda 3-0-25-0, Ishant 3-0-26-0, Agarkar 3-0-19-1, D. Hussey 1-0-10-0, Hafeez 2-0-16-0, Kartik 3-0-33-0, Shukla 2-0-18-0.