McMillan onslaught overwhelms Jets

Kolkata Tigers 150 for 6 (McMillan 58*, Dasgupta 32, Murtaza 2-7) beat Delhi Jets 149 for 7 (Mishra 61, Atappatu 36, Klusener 3-16) by 4 wickets
Scorecard

Craig McMillan's blistering 31-ball 58 steered the Kolkata Tigers to a four-wicket win over the Jets, capping a day in which the sides chasing came out trumps.

While Ian Harvey opened and played sheet anchor during the Chennai Superstars' chase, McMillan masterminded an assault from No. 6 for the Tigers, hitting five fours and four sixes.

Delhi Jets, fresh from their win over the Mumbai Champs on Friday, once again opted to bat. Monish Mishra (61) combined with captain Marvan Atapattu (36) to pilot the innings, but a regular fall of wickets towards the end saw them finish on 149, with big-hitters like Paul Nixon and Dale Benkenstein missing out. Lance Klusener was the most successful bowler for the Tigers, with 3 for 16 off his four overs.

After Darren Maddy fell early, the Tigers ticked along at a steady rate, with Deep Dasgupta and Abhishek Jhunjhunwala - who were part of Bengal's Ranji Trophy team that reached the final last season - scoring 32 and 20.

Ali Murtaza and Dale Benkenstein then took a couple of wickets each - three within the span of two runs - to leave the Tigers tottering at 62 for 5.

Klusener joined McMillan at the crease, and the two began to rebuild the innings. They were content with playing out Murtaza, who finished with exceptional figures of 4-1-7-2, the most miserly in the tournament thus far.

However, once Benkenstein and Murtaza were done with their share of overs, the Tigers pounced on the rest, with Abbas Ali going for 11 and 24 off his two, while Abhishek Sharma was carted for 16 off the only over he bowled.

Klusener was dismissed for a run-a-ball 27 in the 19th over by Shalabh Srivastava, but by then the game had already been won, as the Tigers emerged victorious with seven balls to spare.