Jacques Kallis

Kolkata Knight Riders got off the mark in the fourth season of the IPL with a resounding win in front of an unusually half empty Eden Gardens while the Deccan Chargers slumped to their second consecutive loss. If Monday belonged to one man, it had to be Jacques Kallis! The South African great first strolled away to his second half century of the tournament before plucking four catches in the outfield as the Chargers fell short of the Knight Riders’ score by nine runs.

Gautam Gambhir won the toss and elected to bat on a slow and low Eden track as Ten Doeschate was given his first start in the IPL. Jacques Kallis had no trouble facing his South African counterpart Steyn while Bisla lived dangerously as the Knightriders got off to a flier. The introduction of Ojha and Mishra into the attack strangled the scoring as Mishra trapped Bisla in front. Kallis found an able partner in his skipper as he and Gambhir upped the flow of runs as Kallis brought up his half century as KKR reached 83 by the end of the 12^th over. Kallis went for one shot too many as he holed out to deep midwicket. Gambhir made 29 of 18 balls while Tewary and Yusuf Pathan provided the acceleration in the slog overs to help KKR cross 150 and set the Chargers a target of 164.

Gambhir once again tossed the new ball to Iqbal Abdulla and he didn’t allow the Chargers to get off to a good start. Ishank Jaggi’s misery ended when a ball stayed low and crashed into the timber while a brilliant piece of work from Morgan in the covers ended Dhawan’s stay at the wicket. Sangakkara opened up for a couple of boundaries but when he chipped a full toss of Bhatia to Kallis at deep square leg, the Chargers were in trouble. Duminy didn’t last long as he holed out to Kallis at deep midwicket and it was left to the settled Bharat Chipli and Daniel Christian to dig the Blues out of trouble. But it wasn’t meant to be, as Kallis plucked a beautiful catch on the boundary to remove the former. Christian struck a few lusty blows towards the end but it was too little too late as KKR finally registered a comprehensive victory.

Jacques Kallis was unanimously adjudged the Man of the Match while the Deccan Chargers travel back home with a lot of repair work on their hands before they meet Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday.

Tags: Cricket, DC, Deccan Chargers, Eden Gardens, IPL, IPL 2011, IPL 4, Jacques Kallis, KKR, Kolkata Knight Riders