IPL 2017: Spinners do the trick as Kolkata surge to top

KOLKATA: The re-laid Eden Gardens track changed its character in the summer heat much to the delight of Kolkata Knight Riders spinners who played a key role in securing a 17-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday.
For Gautam Gambhir's team it was their second successive win at home, while it was another heart-break for Hyderabad as they suffered their fifth defeat in as many matches at Eden Gardens.
None of the Hyderabad batsmen could read the revolutions on the ball imparted by Kolkata's two unorthodox spinners Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav and made a mess of what should have been a straightforward chase.
Interestingly, the first blood was drawn by part-time spinner Yusuf Pathan. The Baroda all-rounder broke opening partnership between David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan after the duo had put 46 runs in pursuit of a 173-run victory target. Dhawan, who was more aggressive of the two, spooned up a simple catch to long-on after making a quick-fire 23 off 22 balls.
Skipper Gambhir tightened the screws by bowling Narine and Kuldeep in tandem. Four overs each from the duo changed the script of the match as asking rate went through the sky. Kuldeep finished with one for 23 while Narine had one for 18.
Kuldeep, who replaced Piyush Chawala in the line-up on Saturday, could have had Warner in his second over but Robin Uthappa missed an easy stumping chance. However, the Chinaman bowler had his revenge in his very next over and had the Hyderabad skipper caught at long-off by Chris Woakes for 26.
Yuvraj Singh (16, 4x2, 6x2) showed glimpses of his old form, hitting a couple of sixes and as many boundaries in his 16-ball 26 but perished to Chris Woakes while trying to go for the broke.
Earlier, Kolkata's ploy of using Narine as an opener, failed to work for the second time running, but as good show by their middle-order helped them put up 172/6 on the board after Warner won the toss and opted to bowl first.
With Narine yorked by Bhuvneshwar Kumar early on and Gambhir cleaned up by Afghan leg-spinner Rashid Khan for 15, Team Kolkata could only manage 40/2 in the Power Play overs. The home team would have been in bigger trouble had umpire Anil Dandekar not turned down a strong appeal for caught behind against Robin Uthappa, who edged a Bhuvi delivery to wicketkeeper Naman Ojha.
Uthappa made most of the reprieve and steadied the innings in the company of Manish Pandey. Uthappa struck the ball powerfully, hitting four sixes and five boundaries while top-scoring with 68 off just 39 balls. The 77-run partnership for the third wicket between the two Karnataka batsmen was broken when Uthappa was caught at deep mid-wicket by Rashid off Ben Cutting.
Pandey took over after Uthappa's exit, making 46 off 35 balls, but the Kolkata innings lost momentum when the batsman miscued his shot off Bhuvi and Warner held the skier, running in from long-off.
The Hyderabad bowlers, who were guilty of bowling 10 wide balls, did well in the death overs giving away only 22 runs in the final three overs to restrict the home team. Bhuvi's finished with figures of 3/20 to keep the Purple Cap firmly in his possession.