May 15, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 9, 1429

KOLKATA, May 14: Shoaib Akhtar made a dramatic Indian Premier League debut for Kolkata Knight Riders, taking four wickets in a blistering new-ball spell to consign the Delhi Daredevils to their fourth straight defeat here on Tuesday (also partly reported in Wednesday’s edition).

In a match crucial to the scramble for a semi-final place, the Kolkata Knight Riders overcame a batting failure, posting only 133, thanks to Shoaib and an inspired fielding effort.

They eventually vindicated captain Saurav Ganguly’s decision to bat first, pulling off a 23-run win for their third successive triumph.

Kolkata went in to field defending a small total and needing a huge performance from their debutant.

Shoaib had played only one match in the last five months but showed no sign of rust as he removed the dangerous Virender Sehwag for a golden duck in the first over. There was a hint of outswing and Sehwag’s footwork-free waft edged the ball behind to Wriddhiman Saha.

The Eden Gardens crowd, quiet after Kolkata’s poor batting performance, regained its voice. Gautam Gambhir, the tournament’s leading run-scorer, lashed a couple of boundaries off Ishant Sharma before becoming Shoaib’s second victim. A short and wide delivery was cut straight to David Hussey at point and Shoaib set off on his trademark arm-outstretched airplane celebration.

An inside-edge saved A.B. de Villiers on the first delivery off Shoaib’s third over but de Villiers fell next ball as he top-edged a bouncer to square leg. Manoj Tiwary fell in the following ball, trapped lbw, and though Tillekeratne Dilshan prevented the hat-trick, Delhi were reeling at 32 for four.

Shoaib, playing after his five-year ban was suspended for one month, finished with outstanding figures of 3-0-11-4.

His passion seemed infectious; three overs later Ashok Dinda uprooted Shikhar Dhawan’s off stump. Dilshan, though, was unflustered by the fall of wickets and kept going for his shots. As he raced along to 25 with the help of five boundaries, the required rate for the last nine overs was a gettable 7.5. However, his run out while trying to steal a quick single dealt Delhi a severe blow.

All the while the atmosphere kept getting noisier, with franchise owner Shah Rukh Khan acting as cheerleader and Kolkata’s anthem “korbo, lorbo, jitbo re” booming through the loudspeakers.

Amit Mishra and Farveez Maharoof gave them some anxious moments with a fighting 34-run stand but a poor piece of running from Maharoof snuffed out Delhi’s hopes — after gloving a short ball to the leg side, he neither got between the throw and the stumps nor ran in a straight line towards the non-striker’s end and was caught inches short.

With Kolkata in the ascendancy, Laxmi Ratan Shukla was given an over and he took the remaining three wickets to seal the victory as the crowd erupted.

Summarised scores:

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS 133-6 in 20 overs (Salman Butt 48, David Hussey 31; Farveez Maharoof 2-25, Yo Mahesh 2-34); DELHI DAREDEVILS 110 in 17.5 overs (Amit Mishra 31, Tillekeratne Dilshan 25; Shoaib Akhtar 4-11, Laxmi Rattan Shukla 3-6).—Agencies