Abdulla spins it Kolkata's way

Both teams seemed to have misread the Feroz Shah Kotla pitch, packing their sides with quicks. It was left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla though who was the most influential of the bowlers, spinning his first ball "like Warne to Gatting" according to Brett Lee, as he nipped out three wickets in a stifling spell.

If the usually incisive and economical Morne Morkel was Delhi's most expensive bowler, Kolkata's best batsman was not one of their big-money imports, but their local boy, Manoj Tiwary, who made a combative half-century to stabilise the innings.

Still, Delhi had seemingly below-par target to chase, and that was looking even smaller when Virender Sehwag was crashing boundaries at will through the off side. Everything changed in the next two overs. Abdulla, the first spinner to bowl in the match, ripped the ball a long way in the fifth over, making the ball stop and nearly had James Hopes giving a return catch. Then, Jaidev Unadkat fired in two bouncers at Sehwag, the second of which was a top-edged pull to fine leg.

That massive wicket and the big turn combined to squeeze the runs, only 21 coming off the next five before Abdulla had Irfan swiping to Ryan ten Doeschate to midwicket. With Delhi's experiment with Tasmanian batsman Travis Birt failing, much depended on Hopes, who also perished to Abdulla - ending a patient innings with a punch to cover. Three balls later, Abdulla had his third with Naman Ojha mowing to the deep, and at 86 for 6 Delhi were out of it.