An inspired all-round performance guided Kolkata Knight Riders to book a place in IPL 7 final after Kolkata defeated Kings XI Punjab by 28 runs in Qualifier 1 at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday.
Robin Uthappa, Umesh Yadav and Morne Morkel starred for the KKR as 2012 champions won comfortably by a big margin.
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Defending 164 on a slow surface that remained under cover for three days, Yadav (3 for 13) and Morkel (2 for 23) shared five wickets between them, while Piyush Chawla also bowled smartly to restrict Punjab to 135 for 8 in 20 overs and hand KKR a record eighth victory on the trot.
Umesh Yadav picked up 3 for 13 and Robin Uthappa top scored with 42 off 30 balls as Kolkata Knight Riders beat Kings XI Punjab by 28 runs to reach the finals.
Virender Sehwag was the first man to fall for KXIP as his crips shot found Shakib at point. Vohra and Wriddhiman Saha then scored some quick runs and kept up with the par score according to the Duckworth-Lewis (D/L) method. But KKR bounced back to dismiss Vohra when Morkel had the opener in the next over to make the D/L equation in the home team's favour.
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Glenn Maxwell suffered yet another early dismissal, as the hero of the first half of IPL 7 was unable to replicate his early form. He was dismissed LBW by Umesh Yadav for just six runs.
It was Saha, who looked steady in the middle and kept KXIP in the hunt with some stunning strokes, but Morkel ensured that the wicketkeeper-batsman did not prolong his innings. David Miller was dropped on 1 but he could not make it count and was castled by Piyush Chawla, while Yadav claimed his third victim in the form of the skipper George Bailiey.
Earlier, opting to bowl first, the spinning duo of Karanveer Singh and Akshar Patel shared five wickets between them to help Kings XI Punjab keep Kolkata Knight Riders to 163
for 8. Put into bat, KKR were off to a worst start as they were 2/1 in 1.2 overs, losing skipper Gautam Gambhir for 1 but Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey repaired the damage,
putting on 65 runs in just 42 balls to turn their fortunes around.
Continuing his dream run, Uthappa slammed 42 from 30 balls with four boundaries and two massive sixes, while Pandey extended fine support with a 20-ball 21. But before KKR could
break loose, KXIP essayed a comeback through left-arm spinner Patel (2 for 11) and Karanveer (3 for 40) on a slow wicket that had remained under cover for three days due to rain.
First it was Patel who gave the breakthrough claiming Uthappa and Pandey in his third over, before Singh struck twice in two balls dismissing the hard-hitting duo of Shakib Al Hasan (18) and Yusuf Pathan (20) to bring on the untested KKR lower middle-order. When KKR were 113 for 5 in 15.4 overs, rain suspended play for 25 minutes and the field was brought under cover once again.
The blows did not hurt KKR's cause much as Surya Kumar Yadav struck a quick 20 from 14 balls while Ryan ten Doeschate slammed a 10-ball 17, which was studded with two sixes.
Mitchell Johnson gave an early breakthrough in the form of KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir when the left-hander pulled one for his KXIP counterpart Bailey to take a fine rising catch at mid-on. The outfield looked slow and KKR's run-rate too was slower - 14/1 in the first three overs - with the first boundary coming as late as in the 18th ball.
Before it could get any worse, Uthappa continued his dream run and took on Johnson, pulling the Aussie pace spearhead over deep square-leg for a six and followed it up with a boundary in an over that yielded 17 runs. It was the turnaround KKR were looking for and Uthappa stepped out to Awana in the next over and hit two boundaries. Uthappa smacked his second six with an effortless scoop over the sight-screen as KKR raced to 55 for 1 in the powerplay.
Pandey, too, gave a fine support at the other end in the entertaining partnership before left-arm spinner Patel struck twice in his third over, claiming both Uthappa and Pandey. Uthappa was caught by David Miller while trying to clear long-off but KKR had enough on the board to make it to the IPL final.
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