With a brisk unbeaten 42 off 20 ball (4x2, 6x3), Irfan Pathan guided Delhi Daredevils to secure an eight wicket victory over the hosts Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in a rain affected match at Eden Gardens on Thursday (April 5, 2012). The occasional all rounder Irfan Pathan, who has made a good comeback in the Indian side after remaining out of team for two years helped his team to start the IPL 5 campaign with a win in the 12 overs per side match.
Earlier, Delhi Daredevils captain Virender Sehwag won the toss and elected to field first on the rain affected ground. KKR lost the openor Brendon McCullum (9) and Kallis (4) on 1.4 over and 2.4 over respectively. Morne Morkel removed Manjo Tiwari on a duck at KKR’s score of 20 and he was on hat trick. After that wickets fell at frequent intervals, and Knight Riders could manage only 97 for nine in 12 overs. Meanwhile, Laxmi Ratan Shukla top-scored for the home team with a 17-ball 26, which was studded with two sixes and a lone boundary. He resurrected Kolkata's innings after they were reduced to 54 for five in 6.4 overs.
Morne Morkel scalped three wickets 3 for 18 runs, while Umesh Yadav and Roelof van der Merwe bagged two wickets apiece. Chasing the small total, Aaron Finch (30 from 27 balls) and Virender Sehwag (20 off 13) gave the Daredevils a solid start putting on 49 for the opening wicket. However two quick wickets, after Kallis gave the breakthrough in the form of Finch, brought the crowd back on its feet as Daredevils needed 41 runs off 28 balls to win. But Irfan had other idea as the Indian southpaw paced his innings beautifully to complete a clinical chase.
Scoreboard |  |
| Kolkata Knight Riders | 97-9 (12) | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | SR | |
| B McCullum | lbw b Merwe | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 128.57 | |
| J Kallis | b Morkel | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 100.00 | |
| *G Gambhir | b Morkel | 16 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 106.67 | |
| Manoj Tiwary | b Morkel | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Y Pathan | c Ojha b Yadav | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| D Das | run out (Finch) | 18 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 200.00 | |
| Laxmi Shukla | c Nagar b Yadav | 26 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 152.94 | |
| R Bhatia | st Ojha b Merwe | 7 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 77.78 | |
| B Lee | run out (Yadav) | 9 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 180.00 | |
| I Abdulla | not out | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 | |
| M de Lange |
Extras: 7 b:0 lb:5 nb:0 w:2
Total: 97-9 (12) | Curr. RR: 8.08
FOW:B McCullum (14-1, 1.4), J Kallis (20-2, 2.4), Manoj Tiwary (20-3, 2.5), Y Pathan (31-4, 4), *G Gambhir (54-5, 6.4), D Das (55-6, 6.5), Laxmi Shukla (86-7, 10.4), R Bhatia (89-8, 11.2), B Lee (97-9, 12)
| Delhi Daredevils | O | M | R | W | Nb | Wd | RPO | |
| I Pathan | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | |
| R Merwe | 3 | 0 | 28 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9.33 | |
| M Morkel | 3 | 0 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6.00 | |
| Umesh Yadav | 2 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | |
| G Maxwell | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12.00 | |
| S Nadeem | 2 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.00 |
| Delhi Daredevils | 100-2 (11.1) | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | SR | |
| A Finch | b Kallis | 30 | 27 | 5 | 0 | 111.11 | |
| *V Sehwag | c Abdulla b Bhatia | 20 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 153.85 | |
| I Pathan | not out | 42 | 20 | 2 | 3 | 210.00 | |
| G Maxwell | not out | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 42.86 | |
| V Rao | |||||||
| M Morkel | |||||||
| N Ojha | |||||||
| Y Nagar | |||||||
| R Merwe | |||||||
| Umesh Yadav | |||||||
| S Nadeem |
Extras: 5 b:0 lb:4 nb:0 w:1
Total: 100-2 (11.1) | Curr. RR: 8.96
FOW:A Finch (49-1, 6.2), *V Sehwag (57-2, 7.2)
| Kolkata Knight Riders | O | M | R | W | Nb | Wd | RPO | |
| B Lee | 2 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.50 | |
| M de Lange | 3 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12.00 | |
| I Abdulla | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.00 | |
| J Kallis | 3 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7.67 | |
| R Bhatia | 1.1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.00 | |
| Y Pathan | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.00 |
Scorecard Source: Rediff
