Yuvraj’s all-round brilliance
…Kolkata thump Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets
(REUTERS)-Yuvraj Singh’s all-round brilliance was not enough in the end as Delhi Daredevils humbled Pune Warriors by three wickets for their maiden win in the Indian Premier League yesterday.
Pune skipper Yuvraj, adjudged player of the tournament at the World Cup, hit five sixes in his unbeaten 66 off 32 balls that, along with Jesse Ryder’s attacking 60, powered the home side to 187-5 at the DY Patil Stadium.
Returning to defend the total, Yuvraj claimed 4-29 but still could not stop Delhi, boosted by cameos from David Warner (46), Virender Sehwag (37) and Y Venugopal Rao (31), from reaching the target with four balls to spare.
In comparison, Kolkata Knight Riders hardly broke a sweat as they thumped Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets with 6.1 overs to spare before their home crowd at Eden Gardens.
Justifying skipper Gautam Gambhir’s decision to field, Lakshmipathy Balaji (3-15) and his bowling colleagues shot out the visitors for 81 in 15.2 overs with Ashok Menaria (21) being Rajasthan’s top scorer.
Unbeaten knocks by Gambhir (35) and Manoj Tiwary (30) helped Kolkata overwhelm the target in the 14th over and soar to the top of the table with six points from four matches.