Dada overpowers Daredevils at Eden

He scored runs, took a super catch, threw down the stumps, dived around on the field like a 17-year-old and was the ferocious skipper yet again as the Eden Gardens erupted with Sourav Ganguly's every move on Wednesday.
The confident Delhi Dardevils stayed in the game for as long as they could but in the end the Knight Riders were determined to win this one as the visitors went down by 14 runs. Chasing 182, Delhi were restricted to 167-8 in 20 overs.
Delhi were in the hunt till the time Virender Sehwag was in the middle but once the opener was cleaned up for a 40-ball 64 by Ajit Agarkar in the 15th over, the Knight Riders were in the driver's seat and Ganguly's men, who had to win to stay in contention for a semi-final spot, did not let the game slip from there.
Kedar Jadhav (five), Farveez Maharoof (two), Rajat Bhatia (two) and Dinesh Karthik (20) failed to get the big hits with the asking rate climbing up.
Delhi were pegged back in the first over of their chase when a pumped-up Ashok Dinda bowled the in-form David Warner for no score. Sehwag with Gautam Gambhir put Delhi on course with a terrific 99-run stand in less than 10 overs. The duo looked set to run away with the game before Ganguly's direct hit sent back Gambhir for 47.
The game changed on its head with the onus falling on Sehwag as Paul Collingwood (two) perished to the guile of Ajantha Mendis.
After electing to bat, Chris Gayle and Ganguly got the home side off to a super start but the visitors struck back as Kolkata lost momentum in the second half of the innings. The Knight Riders were comfortably placed at 87-0 in 10 overs and looked set for a total beyond 200 but Delhi managed to pull things back in the middle with three big wickets.
Bhatia struck first blood in the 11th over when Gayle attempted a big heave that fetched him a six off the previous ball, only to play on to the stumps this time. The West Indies batsman was looking dangerous with 40 off just 21 balls with two sixes to his name. Gayle had put on 94 for the first wicket with his skipper.
Ganguly reached his fifty soon after Gayle fell but he too was cleaned up for 56 off Daniel Vettori.
Brendon McCullum fell cheaply for six in his first game for Kolkata this season. The Kiwi, who had survived a close run out call, was not second time lucky when he took on Bhatia's arm.
However Mathews was in no mood to let Delhi spoil the good work done by the Kolkata openers as he struck three towering sixes in his unbeaten cameo. The Sri Lanka all-rounder bludgeoned 46 not out off just 28 balls. He found the perfect foil in Manoj Tiwary, who made an unbeaten 26 in 18 balls. The duo put on 70 runs in less than seven overs.
Kolkata now have five wins from 10 games while Delhi have six from as many games.