Bowlers and Ganguly knock out Rajasthan

Kolkata Knight Riders 133 for 2 (Ganguly 75*, Pujara 45*) beat Rajasthan Royals 132 for 9 (Watson 44, Unadkat 3-26, Dinda 2-24) by eight wickets

Kolkata Knight Riders' bowlers knocked out Rajasthan Royals and kept their semi-final hopes alive by setting up a comprehensive eight-wicket win. They limited Rajasthan to a below-par score on a slowish pitch, and Sourav Ganguly backed them up with another significant contribution to push Kolkata to 12 points.

The effort overcame an intimidating start from Shane Watson, who began with a series of boundaries, and the loss of early wickets in the chase. Kolkata, however, face a tough task in ensuring a qualification for the knockout stage, as they have to beat a formidable Mumbai Indians in their next game and by a big margin to boost their negative net run-rate.

Watson, opening for the first time this IPL, took little time settling in to his preferred position in limited-overs cricket, triggering a confident start with a series of boundaries, feeding off some indisciplined bowling. The Kolkata bowlers often pitched too short or were countered by some superior batting by Watson, who created opportunities to find the boundaries with ease.

But the damage caused in the first seven overs, where Rajasthan had raced to 57 without loss, was compensated for by Kolkata's seamers, who, realising the sluggish nature of the track, cut down on pace and used their variations well. Laxmi Shukla played a prominent role in the first two dismissals, bowling Watson with a slower legcutter and then flinging himself to his left to snap a blinder to send back Naman Ojha off Jaidev Unadkat, who finished with a three-for.