Angelo Mathews saves Kolkata's day

Angelo Mathews came in at the conclusion of the second double-strike early in Kolkata Knight Riders' innings. At 31 for 4, the first ball he faced he top-edged for six. That was the last real mistake he made in the game. In the next over, he got going with an extra-cover drive, and never looked back. His 130-run association with Owais Shah took Kolkata to a target they could defend, and his bowling figures of 4-0-27-1 played an important role in successfully defending it.

One cute paddle over fine leg excepting, Mathews employed strong hitting down the ground. Pragyan Ojha and Andrew Symonds initially managed to keep Mathews and Owais Shah in check, but in their last overs Mathews opened up the final assault.

That was just the momentum the stumbling innings needed, taking Kolkata to 103 for 4 after 16 overs. Mathews proceeded to hit his countryman Chaminda Vaas over long-off for a six and put the icing on the spoilt figures: 2-1-4-2 became 3-1-22-2. In the 18th over, he tucked into T Suman, and took apart RP Singh in the 19th. His 46-ball 65 kept Kolkata in the game, but Adam Gilchrist had all but pushed them out by the time he came on to bowl.

He started off with three tight overs, and came back to fool Rohit Sharma with a slower ball, taking the last big Deccan wicket, and sealing the game for Kolkata.