Kolkata Knight Riders   127-5 (Gautam Gambhir 30, Manoj Tiwary 30, Dale Steyn 2-24) beat Deccan Chargers 126-7 (Shikhar Dhawan 50, Parthiv Patel 23, Lakshmipathy Balaji 2-22) by 5 wickets.

Kolkat Knight Riders displayed a fine team work on the slow track and pulled out a stubborn win against Deccan Chargers in the fifth edition of the IPL 2012.

Deccan Chargers managed 126 runs for the loss of seven wickets at the end of the 20^th  overs and Kolkata Knight Riders scored 127 runs with five wicket still in hand in 19 overs.

Brett Lee (Kolkata Knight Riders) was declared ‘Player of the match’ due to his economical bowling spell of 1-15 in the allotted four overs.

The 29^th match of the Indian Premier League was held at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack on Sunday, April 22, 2012.

Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders captain, Gautam Gambhir won the toss and invited Deccan Chargers to try their luck with the bat. Their skipper, Kumar Sangakkara entered in the field to open the innings with Shikhar Dhawan as the first over was bowled by the off spinner, Yusuf Pathan who gave away six runs followed by two from the second over bowled by Brett Lee. The batsmen geared up and collected 22 runs from the next two overs that included one six and a couple of fours from Dhawan as Sangakkara shared one four.

The openers accumulated 37 runs in 5.5 overs when Sangakkara was clean bowled by Lakshmipathy Balaji for 12 runs. Dhawan and the next batsman Parthiv Patel kept the score board moving with the occasional boundaries and crawled to 81 runs in 11.3 overs. Patel was run out at this point for 23 runs as the incoming batsmen found it hard to score the runs freely and the wickets were at the slide. Shikhar Dhawan completed his fifty on the second ball of the 16^th over but lost his wicket two balls later for 50 off even balls with one six and 4 fours.

The bowlers of Kolkata Knight Riders tightened the screws of the rival batting and Deccan Chargers could reach at 126 with three wickets in hand at the end of the 20^th over.

Lakshmipathy Balaji and Sunil Narine were the most successful bowlers with two wickets each whereas Brett Lee and Rajat Bhatia claimed one wicket each.

Kolkata Knight Riders sent in Gautam Gambhir and Brendon McCullum to start the chase but the latter was declared leg before wicket off Dale Steyn on the fifth ball of the third over for 10 runs. Manvinder Bisla joined in next with Gambhir who opted for the attack while sending the ball twice out of the fence in the fourth over. They tried to speed up the runs and took the score to 44 when Bisla was gone for 10 runs.

Gautam Gambhir shared 20 runs partnership with Jacques Kallis before Kumar Sangakkara caught him at mid off on the bowling of Anand Raran for 30 from 28 balls with 4 fours. Yusuf Pathan remained off colour again with the bat as Kolkata Knight Riders were reeling at 72-4 in 10.4 overs. Manoj Tiwary came in the centre and started the repair work with Jacques Kallis. They did not take any undue risk and crept to 105 runs as Kallis was caught behind by the wicketkeeper, Parthiv Patel off Steyn for 23 runs.

Tiwary demonstrated a measured game with the assistance of Debabrata Das from the other end who got a life in the 18^th over. Jean-Paul Duminy bowled the first ball of the 20^th over as a wide and the target was achieved by scoring 127 runs for the loss of five wickets with six balls to spare. Tiwary remained unbeaten for 30 off 28 balls with 2 fours and Das secured other end with 9 runs off 8 with one four.

Dale Steyn was the best bowler with two wickets whereas Ankit Sharma, Amit Mishra and Anand Rajan shared one wicket each.

Points scored by two teams at the end of the 29^th match of the IPL 2012:

Kolkata Knight Riders  – 8 from 7 games.

Deccan Chargers            – 0 from 5 games.