KKR cruise past RCB by 9 wickets!!

Kolkata Knight Riders' innings:

Over No. 18: KKR win! Jacques Kallis hit the winning runs as KKR beat the RCB convincingly by 9 wickets. Gautam Gambhir also scored an unbeaten half-century.

Over No. 16: KKR cruise! KKR were well on their way of achieving the required target of 170. Gambhir complimented the patient Kallis perfectly. He started Vettori's over with a six as KKR accumulated 9 runs in the over. KKR 140/1

Over No. 13: Lovely partnership! The wicket of Haddin didn't make much of a difference in the scoring rate of KKR as both Kallis and Gambhir took the innings forward without losing any more wicket. KKR 119/1

Over No. 10: Kallis the key! Though the South African is taking his time, he would be the key if the KKR need to cross the finishing line on Thursday. He was joined by skipper Gautam Gambhir. KKR 84/1

Over No. 8: First breakthrough! Haddin, after a blistering 42 off 27 balls, departed. RCB had finally got the breakthrough. KKR 64/1

Over No. 7: Haddin goes berserk! The Australian, who showed some nerves initially, went berserk and hit sixes and fours to all the RCB bowlers. Kallis is providing the able support to the wicketkeeper batsman. KKR 61/0

Over No. 5: Still not a breakthrough! RCB, though, were trying hard, they still couldn't get the first breakthrough. Haddin and Kallis, after a sedate start, upped the ante. KKR 37/0

Over No. 2: The opening combination of Brad Haddin and Jacques Kallis took the KKR score to 14 for no loss at the end of two overs.

Royal Challengers Bangalore innings:

Over No. 20: What an end! RCB, who were once tottering at 91/6, were taken to a competitive 169/9 by Vettori and Bhatkal. The score which may challenge the best of KKR batsmen.

Over No. 19: Bhatkal wicket! The young right-hander got out after a useful 25 off 18 balls. He also shared an important 61-run stand off 38 deliveries with skipper Vettori. RCB 158/7

Over No. 17: Vettori at his best! The RCB skipper took full toll of inexperienced Jaidev Unadkat and hit the young Indian bowler for two consecutive sixes. RCB 132/6

Over No. 16: Good resistance! The pair of captain Daniel Vettori and Raju Bhatkal showed patience to stick at the wicket and they also scored boundaries when offered freebies by KKR bowlers. RCB 115/6

Over No. 14: More wickets for KKR! RCB were tottering after losing more than half of their side inside the 100-run mark. Mayank Agarwal, who was looking good after hitting two sixes, and Mohammad Kaif both got out in quick succession. RCB 95/6

Over No. 11: Dilshan wicket! After Tiwary, Dilshan too departed as KKR wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, who was playing his first match, removed the bails in a flash to send the Sri Lankan back. RCB 74/4

Over No. 10: Tiwary wicket! When Saurabh Tiwary and Tillakaratne Dilshan

seemed to have rebuilding the RCB's innings, KKR struck with the wicket of Tiwary. Yusuf Pathan got the wicket with his off-spin. RCB 69/3

Over No. 7: Young kid on the block! Shami Ahmed was given the ball and, although, he gave away ten runs in his first over, lines bowled by him and the pace of around 140 kph he generated would have given a lot of confidence to the KRR skipper. RCB 51/2

Over No. 5: Kohli wicket! The ploy of persisting with Lee worked for the KKR as the fast bowler struck with the wicket of Virat Kohli, who looked surprised by the bounce Lee's delivery had got. RCB 34/2

Over No. 4: Gayle wicket! Jacques Kallis showed once again why he is the best all-rounder of his generation as the South African, after being smashed for a towering six by Gayle, bowled a toe-crushing yorker that shattered the stumps of the RCB opener. RCB 28/1

Over No. 3: First six! Contrary to the first over, Gayle didn't show any mercy to Lee this time. The burly left-hander smashed the Australian for two consecutive sixes. RCB 20/0

Over No. 1: Maiden over! You don't often see Chris Gayle defending all the six balls of an over. But that's what happened as the RCB opener didn't score a single run off Brett Lee.

Kolkata Knight Riders' skipper Gautam Gambhir won the toss and elected to bowl first in their Champions League Twenty20 match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Thursday.

KKR replaced off-colour L Balaji with Jaidev Unadkat, while young Shami Ahmed was also inlcuded in the playing eleven.

RCB were forced to replace AB de Villiers, who had fractured his finger and was ruled out of the remaining tournament, with Tillakaratne Dilshan. The Sri Lanka will also do the wicketkeeping role just like the South African did. Rajiv Bhatkal was also brought in the side.

It's a must-win game for both the teams, with RCB looking for a win after losing their opening encounter while KKR hoping the same after getting two losses in two games.

Teams:

Kolkata Knight Riders: Jacques Kallis, Gautam Gambhir(c), Manoj Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Brad Haddin(w), Ryan ten Doeschate, Shami Ahmed, Rajat Bhatia, Iqbal Abdulla, Brett Lee, Jaidev Unadkat

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Chris Gayle, Tillakaratne Dilshan(w), Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, Saurabh Tiwary, Mohammad Kaif, Raju Bhatkal, Daniel Vettori(c), Syed Mohammad Jamaluddin, Sreenath Aravind, Dirk Nannes

~~Long Live Shahrukh Khan