Kolkata Knight Riders register eighth successive win over KXIP in IPL

kolkata : Gautam Gambhir struck an unbeaten 72 off 49 balls to lead Kolkata Knight Riders to an eight-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab in their first home game of the IPL-10. This is Kolkata’s eighth  successive win over Kings XI Punjab in the IPL.
Gambhir gunned down the opposition attack with a blazing innings, helping his team reach the 171-run target in 16.3 overs. The move to send Sunil Narine (37 off 18 balls) at the top of the order alongside Gambhir worked brilliantly as they smashed 76 off 34 balls to set up a comprehensive victory. Manish Pandey finished the match with a six to remain unbeaten on 25 alongside Gambhir after Robin Uthappa came up with a 26-run cameo.  The game was very much in the bag for KKR with the flying start they got through Narine, who entertained the Eden crowd by slamming three sixes and four boundaries. Earlier, Umesh Yadav made a successful comeback as his four wickets helped Kolkata Knight Riders restrict Kings XI Punjab to 170/9. Yadav struck thrice in his fourth over to cover up for another poor display on the field. KXIP were 95/2 after 10 overs before Yadav dismissed Kings’ skipper Glenn Maxwell (25 off 14) for his first wicket.
The visitors once again stepped up the momentum with Wriddhiman Saha (25 off 17) and David Miller (28 off 19) putting up 57 runs in 32 balls to put their team on course for a total close to 200.KXIP were going comfortably at 145/4 in 17 overs when Yadav made his presence felt with a flurry of wickets to dismiss Miller and Saha, while Axar Patel (0) became his fourth victim. Put in to bat, Kings XI Punjab were off to a spectacular start with 10 runs from first over as Manan Vohra (28) and Hashim Amla (25) put on their second successive fifty-plus opening partnership. Making full use of his reprieve on 17, Vohra took charge on the KKR opening pace duo of Yadav and Trent Boult. The visitors were 47/0 after four overs and were in no mood to relent when Piyush Chawla broke the opening stand by dismissing Vohra.