On the second ball of the first over Shaun Tait got the man Rajasthan wanted. Kolkata opener Jacques Kallis wanted to pull Tait acros the boundary but a top edge off his bat took a long loop in the air and Ross Taylor pouched it on return. He fell for a nought and Kolkata lost him on 0/1.
Post that captain Gautam Gambhir and opener Manvinder Bisla batted at a steady pace and they didn't really need to hurry as the 82 runs target was well within reach. But on the last ball of the 7th over Bisla fell to opposition skipper Shane Warne's turn when batting on 9. Kolkata lost their second wicket on 31.
Finally, Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwary got on with a partnership even as King Khan's team inched closer to a victory.
In the 14th over, Tiwary hit a massive six off Shaun Tait and the followed it up with two fours. Then a four by skipper Gambhir on the fifth ball of the over proved to be the victory boundary for the hosts.
Rajasthan innings
Kolkata paceman Lakshmipathy Balaji finished with impressive figures of 3-0-15-3 as Rajasthan were all out for 81.
Rajasthan would have liked Shane Watson to have carried on, but he fell on the fourth ball of the fourth over off Lakshmipathy Balaji. Balaji pitched the ball of the middle stump and it moved quickly to uproot his off stump. He fell 11 and Rajasthan lost their in-form opener on 24/1, after being put to bat by oppostion skipper Gautam Gambhir.
The visitors had to face another setback in the fifth over when left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla removed Amit Paunikar on 15 with keeper Manvinder Bisla performing the final honours by zipping off the bails on time. And Rajasthan were 28/2.
Then a couple of run outs (Faiz Fazal and Abhishek Raut) saw Rajasthan plummet to 43/4. And just when Ross Taylor and Ashok Menaria were looking to forge a stand, Yusuf Pathan struck in the11th over to remove Taylor on 7 with Bisla perfoming the stumping act with precision. And Rajasthan was down to 68/5.
Later, Balaji came around to clean bowled Ajinkya Rahane on the first ball of the 13th over and then completed the over with another wicket, this time it was Ashok Menaria, who was seen walking back when the Rajasthan score was 79/7.
In the next over Kolkata's left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan removed Amit Singh on a duck and then clean bowled Shaun Tait on the next ball. Shakib missed the hat-trick but his bowling pushed Rajasthan down to 80/9 in 15 overs.
And the last man Siddharth Trivedi was cleaned bowled by Lee on a duck and Rajasthan were all out for 81 on the second ball of the 16th over.
Teams:
Rajasthan Royals: Shane Watson, Amit Paunikar(w), Ajinkya Rahane, Ross Taylor, Ashok Menaria, Abhishek Raut, Shane Warne(c), Faiz Fazal, Shaun Tait, Siddharth Trivedi, Amit Singh
Kolkata Knight Riders: Jacques Kallis, Manvinder Bisla(w), Gautam Gambhir(c), Yusuf Pathan, Eoin Morgan, Manoj Tiwary, Rajat Bhatia, Shakib Al Hasan, Iqbal Abdulla, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Brett Lee
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