No happy homecoming for Ganguly as KKR clinch tight win

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Kolkata Knight Riders 150 for 5 (Gambhir 56, McCullum 42, Mathews 2-17) beat Pune Warriors 143 for 8 (Mathews 35, Ganguly 36, de lange 3-34) by seven run

The pre-match hype surrounded on Sourav Ganguly taking on his former team on his nursery - the Eden Gardens. Ganguly played a part in giving his struggling Pune Warriors a chance to upstage the hosts, but in a bitter twist, his own dismissal was the turning point for the Knight Riders to clinch a seven-run win. In a match that ebbed a flowed, Angelo Mathews halted Knight Riders' charge with a flurry of sixes, but with support diminishing at the other end, he failed to muscle the Warriors to victory.

Full report to follow

20 overs Kolkata Knight Riders 150 for 5 (Gambhir 56, McCullum 42, Mathews 2-17) v Pune Warriors

Gautam Gambhir hits out on his way to a half-century, Kolkata Knight Riders v Pune Warriors, IPL, Kolkata, May 5, 2012

Gautam Gambhir set Kolkata up for something bigger than what they managed © AFP

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It was an innings of two halves by Kolkata Knight Riders. An opening stand of 113 between Gautam Gambhir and Brendon McCullum gave them the foundation to entertain thoughts of 200 and beyond, but the other batsmen batted as if on a different wicket and managed only 37 runs in the last 7.3 overs. Given Pune Warriors' previous game, where they failed to chase 120, the hosts could still fancy their chances.

The Warriors bowlers struggled initially on a slow pitch, often dropping too short or drifting on the pads, giving Knight Riders plenty of boundary opportunities. Gambhir began his innings by pulling a long hop off the left-arm spinner Murali Kartik in the first over, before clubbing Ashok Dinda for six.

The openers used their feet against the seamers, as illustrated by two sixes in the opening stand. McCullum welcomed Wayne Parnell by walking across his stumps and launching him over long-on, before Gambhir walked down the track and slogged a slower delivery from Dinda over deep midwicket. The pair ransacked 46 runs off three overs to end the Powerplay on an imposing 68 for no loss. It was also the third fifty-plus stand between the pair in the IPL

Sensing that the spinners would play a crucial role in containing the run-rate on this sluggish pitch, Ganguly brought on Clarke. The Australian was unlucky not to have McCullum on 28, when Dinda dropped a sitter at short fine-leg off a top edge. It was doubly embarrassing for Dinda as it happened in front of his 'home' crowd.

Gambhir milked the singles by dabbing the seamers to third man. There were no pressure tactics applied by Warriors till the tenth over, when the wicketkeeper Robin Uthappa stood up to the stumps to prevent the batsmen from using their feet. Gambhir continued coming down the track but he failed to launch Kartik over long-off, where he was caught by Mithun Manhas.

It was the start of the slide for Knight Riders. A slower ball from Angelo Mathews trapped McCullum lbw on the paddle sweep, though replays hinted at an inside edge. A brilliant effort on the boundary by Steven Smith roused Warriors' spirits after Dinda's drop. Yusuf Pathan's heave to wide long-on ought to have cleared the rope, but Smith leapt on the edge of the rope, caught it and parried it into play.

A big offcutter from Mathews clipped Jacques Kallis' stumps as Warriors infiltrated further. After hammering 106 off 11 overs, Knight Riders managed only 44 off the last nine - their worst performance in all IPL seasons. Following McCullum's fall in the 14th over, they scored only one more boundary - a six by Debabrata Das which only just popped over the rope off Smith's palms at long-on.