A flop show in the clash of Titans : The match between the Chennai Super Kings and the Kolkata Knight Riders, which promised a lot ended up as an one sided affair.
Kolkata won the toss for the first time and elected to bat. Sourav Ganguly and Brendon McCullum opened the innings for the Knight Riders. McCullum looked dangerous but failed to last long as he got out on a personal score of 24 from 12 balls which included 2 fours and 2 sixes. Jacob Oram had him caught by Suresh Raina. On the very next delivery Ricky Ponting too got out to a ball from Oram, again caught by Raina.
The Kolkata team never seemed to recover as they kept gifting wickets at regular intervals. Some resistance was offered by Prashant Saha scoring 27 off 16 and by Laxmi Ratan Shukla, who score 42 from 33. The Knight Riders eventually managed to post a total of 147/9 in 20 overs.
The Chennai Super Kings replied brilliantly to a target which did seem to be a tricky one. They started with an opening stand of 66 runs between Parthiv Patel and Mathew Hayden which was the best opening partnership in the tournament, till date. Parthiv got out scoring 21 off 27. His was the only wicket, the Knight Riders could claim.
Hayden remained unbeaten at 70 from 48 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes. At the other end, Dhoni ensured a smooth sail for the Super Kings scoring an unbeaten 43 off 27 which included 3 fours and 2 sixes. The Super Kings made the target with ease, ending with a tally of 152/1 from 17 overs.
The game thus failed to live up to the expectations.
Jacob Oram was adjudged Man of the Match for his haul of 3 for 32.
The DLF highest sixes award was won by Mathew Hayden.
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