KKR begin with a bang

Kolkata (Agencies): Skipper Gautam Gambhir (41) and Sunil Narine (4/13) helped Kolkata Knight Riders beat Delhi Daredevils by six wickets in theIPL 6 opener at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday.

Yusuf Pathan (18 not out) and Eoin Morgan (14 not out) steered the hosts to victory with 8 balls to spare as the defending champions started their journey on the positive note and opened their kitty with two pints.

Chasing 129-run target, Knight Riders lostManoj Tiwary (23) and Gambhir (41) in quick succession in the later stage to provide a glimpse of hopes for the visitors but it turns out to be too little too late.

Shahbaz Nadeem struck to get rid of Tiwary soon after Botha dismissed Gambhir in the previous over. Tiwary hit two fours in his patient run-a-ball innings and was part of a decent 41-run stand for the third wicket with his skipper.

Spinner Johan Botha trapped Gambhir leg before to give Daredevils a valuable breakthrough and reduced KKR to 93/3 in 13.1 overs. A Gambhir smashed a six and five boundaries in his quick-fire 29 balls knock. A Knight Riders lost Jacques Kallis (23) after he added 47 runs for the second wicket with skipper Gambhir.

Earlier, the defending champions rode on Sunil Narine's 4/13 to bundle out a depleted Delhi Daredevils for 128 in the opening match of the sixth edition of Indian Premier League, here on Wednesday.A Without any star players, skipper Mahela Jayawardene came to the Daredevils' rescue as his sensible knock of 66 off 52 balls helped Daredevils reach a total of 125 plus. Jayawardene hit eight fours and a six.

Everything went as per plan KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir's plan after he won the toss and put Daredevils up front in front of a jam-packed Eden Gardens. Brett Lee gave KKR the ideal start cleaning up Unmukt Chand (0) with the very first ball of the championship while Narine and Rajat Bhatia, with his military medium knocked the stuffing out of the opponents sharing six wickets between them.

The absence of big guns like Virender Sehwag and Kevin Pietersen really hurt the Daredevils cause as none other than Jayawardene and David Warner (21) could post a double-digit score.

Only once could the Daredevils dominate the KKR attack when Jayawardene hit Lee for consecutive six and four in the penultimate over but only to be dismissed in the next ball as the innings was all but over for the visitors. Lee brought the packed stadium come alive with an away-going delivery which saw Unmukt play to a wrong line.

Skipper Jayawardene, who was out of action due to a finger injury, then steadied the ship with a 44-run second wicket stand with Warner. The duo played some intelligent cricket taking four in every over as they kept the run-rate above eight-run mark.