IPL 10: Gambhir seals victory for KKR in rain-curtailed game

  New Delhi: Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets via Duckworth-Lewis method to enter Qualifier 2 of the Indian Premier League The Gautam Gambhir led side was given the target of 48 runs in 6 overs and the 2-time IPL champions achieved it with 7 wickets remaining. Gautam Gambhir single handely registered victory with his 19 ball 32-run knock. Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck early for the defending champions as Kolkata lost two in first over and Chris Jordan, who was playing his first IPL game claimed one wicket to shift momentum. However, Gambhir used all his experience and alongside Ishank Jaggi took Kolkata Knight Riders home. Kolkata Knight Riders will now face Mumbai Indians in Qualifier – 2 of the Indian Premier League and winner will set up a clash against Rising Pune Supergiant, who have already cemented their place in the finals. Earlier, Defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad faltered against a disciplined Kolkata bowling attack to end on 128/7 in the eliminator game of the Indian Premier League at M. Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. Sunrisers’ Skipper David Warner top-scored with 37 runs while Nathan Coulter-Nile returned with impressive figure of 3/20 for Kolkata Knight Riders. Put into bat first, Sunrisers' batsmen were also at the receiving end of some inspired Kolkata bowling as they struggled to get quick runs on a seemingly slow track The slow scoring rate finally took a toll on Sunrisers as Dhawan perished in the second delivery of the fifth over. Dhawan slashed at a good length delivery of Umesh only managing to balloon it to Robin Uthappa behind the stumps with the Sunrisers scoreboard reading 25 for one. With the boundaries hard to come by, Warner finally broke the shackles in the ninth over clobbering Piyush Chawla's (1/27) short delivery over midwicket boundary for a maximum. New man in Kane Williamson (24) showed his class as he smacked Coulter-Nile for a boundary and a huge six off consecutive balls to pick up 13 runs of the 10th over. At the halfway stage, Sunrisers were 61 for one. With time Warner grew in confidence and his big hitting skills came to the fore. He didn't spare a single loose ball and clobbered a marginally short delivery from Sunil Narine way over the long on boundary. But just when the partnership between Warner and Williamson was looking dangerous, twin blows in consecutive overs rattled Sunrisers' innings. First Williamson departed caught at extra cover by Suryakumar Yadav off Coulter-Nile while trying to lift the ball over the in-field and then in the next over dangerous Warner was cleaned up by Chawla. The duo stitched 50 runs for the second wicket off 44 balls balls. Yuvraj Singh (9) and young Vijay Shankar (22) shared quick 24 runs of three overs for the fourth wicket before the former fell, caught by Chawla at deep backward square-leg off Umesh while trying to up the ante. Coulter-Nile then struck twice in the 19th over, first removing Shankar and then Chris Jordan to make matters worse for Sunrisers. Naman Ojha made a run-a-ball 16 before perishing in the final delivery of the innings.