Gautam Gambhir chose to bat first for the first time in a while after winning the toss, and the Kolkata Knight Riders picked up a second straight home win to increase their chances of making the playoffs considerably.
The same cannot be said of the Delhi Daredevils, who have now lost seven out of their eleven matches, making their chances of finishing in the top four, slim, and a little slimmer, at best.
The slow and slower-it-gets-the-longer-it-is-played-on wicket at the Eden Gardens was the reason behind Gambhir's decision to bat first, and despite an iffy innings, KKR, with Sunil Narine returning to the team, somehow managed to get to 171/7 in 20 overs.
Yusuf Pathan (42, 24b, 3x4, 3x6) was the main reason behind KKR getting to a winnable total, with the slugger, yet again, showing a lot of maturity at the crease. Pathan, initially took his time, got used to the wicket and then used all of that power of his to full effect.
The Daredevils did not help themselves by dropping too many catches and missing run out chances, which, in a must-win game, is just not good enough.
All the misfielding would not have mattered had DD put in a solid performance with the bat, but that tone of fumbling and tumbling was set by the openers, who were just too circumspect for a chase in excess of 170.
Shreyas Iyer was given a new opening partner in the shape of Manoj Tiwary, but if Gary Kirsten expected the right-hander to turn it on against his former team and at his home ground, he was very much mistakes. Neither batsmen could find the middle of the bat often enough, and while Iyer (40, 35b, 3x4, 2x6) at least kept hi strike rate at a decent clip, Tiwary was much too slow in his 25 (28b, 3x4, 1x6).
With just 54 runs coming in the first nine overs, all it did was put extra pressure on the batsmen coming next, and the likes of JP Duminy, Kedar Jadhav and Yuvraj Singh, out for a duck , could not handle the pressure that comes with having to score at well over 10 runs an over, with Piyush Chawla (4-0-32-4) making merry with the ball.
When captain Duminy (25, 16b, 2x4, 1x6) fell in the third ball of the 16th over, DD needed a further 61 in 27 balls, which meant Angelo Mathews (22, 15b, 2x4, 1x6) had to play an absolute blinder for his team to even get close.
There were a couple of sixes in there, with some boundaries also coming off the blade of Sourabh Tiwary, but nowhere near enough to worry KKR, while the potentially destructive Albie Morkel sat in the dugout, wondering why on earth he wasn't sent in earlier, with the left-hander only coming in once the match was done and dusted.
