The Kolkata Knight Riders kept picking up wins, making chasing look as easy as an apple pie, with the Chennai Super Kings left with no answers in their IPL 2014 match at the Eden Gardens.
The home crowd in Kolkata were treated to a brilliant all-round effort from their side as KKR thumped CSK by eight wickets.
MS Dhoni, could do very little but watch on as the Knight Riders romped home, and the Super Kings skipper was disappointed with his team's effort, even if he thought the pitch eased up by quite a bit in the second innings, making the 155-run target even easier.
"I think it as a crucial toss to lose, and we lost the game with the bat. I thought we were 10-15 runs short," Dhoni said. "I think it was slightly better to bat on in the second innings. We started off well with the ball, but we dropped vital catches."
KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir was grinning from ear to ear after his side's fifth straight win with brilliant knocks from Robin Uthappa and Shakib Al Hasan easing the Knight Riders home with a full two overs and eight wickets to spare.
"We were pretty professional," Gambhir said. "Robin played an unbelievable innings, complemented by Shakib perfectly. The bowlers did really well to restrict CSK to 150-odd.
"We didn't know how the pitch was going to go, but it played well and I hope it stays the same. We have won five games in a row now, all chasing, and we don't want to change anything.
"Hopefully now we can turn up in a couple of days' time and do exactly what we did today. The spinners are doing well, and I hope they can maintain the momentum, but I thought [Pat] Cummins and Umesh [Yadav] also played their parts. The fast bowlers do not get enough credit because of our spinners, but I thought they were brilliant."
KKR have pretty much sealed their playoff spot with the win and will now look to finish higher as they look to continue their brilliant run. Uthappa, who struck his seventh consecutive score over 40 on Tuesday night was pretty happy to play a big part in KKR's win yet again.
"I've enjoyed batting on this ground and I'm happy to contribute to the team in a positive manner, and I have always played well here, it's sort of a lucky ground for me," the man of the match said. "We are very happy we started off with a win here in our first home game.
"The wicket was coming on well, and the dew factor helped a little. The outfield was really fast and I thought about just finding the gaps. I wanted to play to the merit of the ball, but when you play T20 cricket, you tend to lose shape, because you are looking to hit the ball a little harder, so I have made a conscious effort to keep my shape."
If Uthappa continues in this form then the Knight Riders will be serious contenders for their second IPL title.
