Opener Eoin Morgan's halfcentury went in-vain as Kochi Tuskers Kerala produced a clinical bowling displayto beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 17 runs in an Indian Premier League match onThursday.
KKR paid theprice for a poor final over bowled by Brett Lee that cost them 22 runs withman-of-the-match Brad Hodge (35 not out, 3x4, 2x6) hitting a couple of sixes andboundaries.
Chasing 157 for victory, Morgan and Jacques Kallis (45,41 balls) got 69 in the first 10 overs but Raiphi Gomez dismissed Kallis andrival skipper Gautam Gambhir (0) off successive deliveries to bring the hometeam right back in the match.
It was Gomez's spell of two for 14that became the turning point. He was brilliantly backed up by India discard RVinay Kumar (2/28) and some tidy work by the fielders.
Morganfinally came good with the bat as he smashed eight fours and two sixes in his51-ball knock to provide solidity to Kolkata's run chase at the Nehru stadium.
It was the middle overs where Kolkata frittered as KTK bowlers kepta tight leash on them. The boundaries were difficult to come by adding to thepressure.
Having watched Morgan hit two boundaries off pacer RPSingh in the first over, Kallis got into the act, hitting the same bowler forcouple of more boundaries.
Gomez who bowled wicket to wicketbreached Kallis's defence when he played inside the line to get bowled. Gambhirtried to make room in order to hit over extra-cover but was holed out by hiscounterpart Mahela Jayawardene.
But the loss of two crucial wicketsdid not stop Morgan from taking chances as he clobbered RP Singh for a four andsix in the 12th over and then picked Vinay Kumar for special treatment, hittinghim for two fours. However he failed to up the ante after that.
In-form Manoj Tiwary (1) too departed as he was caught by BrendonMcCullum at midwicket off pacer Vinay Kumar.
Morgan somewhat triedto break the shackles in the 17th over, clobbering Sreesanth for a four and sixto accumulate 13 runs of the over.
With 31 required of last twoovers, Morgan and Yusuf Pathan (17) tried to accelerate the innings but onlyended up in a terrible mix-up resulting in Morgan's run out. Pathan followed thesuit with Mahela taking a brilliant catch as KKR's hopes were completely dashed.
Earlier, put into bat, skipper Jayawardene led from the front, ashis gutsy half-century helped KTK post a challenging 156 for five.
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