'Royal dreams' shattered by Knight Riders

Durban: A win was must for Shane Warne and his colleagues to stay float in Indian Premier league. But Kolkata Knight Riders shattered Rajasthan Royals dreams as they beat them by 4 wickets in thrilling match on Sunday at Durban.

Despite being the bottom placed team in the IPL,Kolkata Knight Riders were happty bow ot in high as they won their last two games.

It was Lakshmi Ratan Shukla who turned the tide single-handedly in favour of Knight Riders after being stranded at 45-6 in the twelfth over.

Scorecard

Displaying calmness under tremendous pressure, Shukla hit 2 sixes and 3 fours in his 46-ball 48.

Shukla was ably supported by another allrounder, Ajit Agarkar (14*), who along with Charl Langeveldt bowled well earlier to restrict Royals to a paltry 101/9.

Electing to bowl first, Kolkata Knight Riders restricted Royals to a paltry 101/9, Royals, led-by inspiring skipper Shane Warne, fought till the end, but could not prevent them from overhauling the target with 3 balls to spare.

Debutant Charl Langeveldt took 3 wickets, while Ajit Agarkar took 2 as three Rajasthan batsmen were run out thanks to the agility shown on the field by the Kolkata team.

Royals’ hopes of posting a huge total dashed to the ground as they lost their most prolific batsman Yusuf Pathan for just 9 when he had a terrible mix-up with his partner Ravindra Jadeja.

Shukla was adjudged the Man of the Match for his outstanding knock.

"Its a good opportunity for me. It was really good for us that we won the last match. He (Agarkar) told me to be cool and watch the ball hard. Wicket was not easy, bowlers bowled really good today" said Shukla after receiving the man of the match.

Teams:

Kolkata Knight Riders: Brendon McCullum(w/c), Saurav Ganguly, Bradley Hodge, David Hussey, Shoaib Shaikh, Laxmi Shukla, Yashpal Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Charl Langeveldt, Sourav Sarkar, Ashok Dinda

Rajasthan Royals: Rob Quiney, Swapnil Asnodkar, Naman Ojha(w), Johan Botha, Ravindra Jadeja, Yusuf Pathan, Tyron Henderson, Shane Warne(c), Amit Singh, Niraj Patel, Munaf Patel

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