Royals win as KKR stage dramatic slump

AHMEDABAD: Three wickets in one over by Shane Watson followed by a hat-trick by Pravin Tambe in the next derailed Kolkata Knight Riders in their chase of 170 against Rajasthan Royals on Monday.
From an eminently winning position, KKR crashed to a 10-run loss which left the skipper Gautam Gambhir fuming.
KKR's best opening partnership in this IPL-121 in 14.1 overs between Gambhir and Robin Uthappa - took them to a position of strength.It was around this time that Watson came back to bowl his third over-the 15th of the innings.
Gambhir, who rode his luck on a couple of occasions, departed trying to be a bit more adventurous. Two balls later, Uthappa was deceived by a slower one and ended up flicking a simple catch to square leg. And when Andre Russell played all over a slower one to be bowled in the same over, panic had set in the KKR camp.
On the first ball of the next over, Tambe sent back Manish Pandey, stumped by keeper Sanju Samson off a wide down the leg. Tambe then held a sharp return catch offered by Yusuf Pathan and then got Ryan ten Doeschate, playing his first match, plumb in front. Six wickets in eight deliveries left KKR reeling and despite Surya Kumar Yadav and Shakib Al Hasan's fight, Watson's brilliant last over won it for the Royals.
"It was the belief in ourselves and our attitude not to give up until the last ball that helped us," said Tambe who got the Man of the Match award. "It were those three wickets by Watson in the 15th over that turned the match in our favour."
KKR's desperate attempts to put their wobbly campaign on track again received a jolt. They replaced Jacques Kallis with ten Doeschate and Piyush Chawla with Umesh Yadav but both failed miserably.
KKR coach Trevor Bayliss, who lamented the lack of discipline in his boys' stroke-making in the earlier game against the Royals, was again at a loss for words. "It seems unbelievable the way the match ended," he said.
Earlier, Royals' top four paced their innings so well that they consistently maintained a run rate of eight.
ANDRE'S ANTICS
There was a bit of heat generated in the 18th over of the match when Russell stopped in his bowling action, throwing Watson off-guard, and then going on with the delivery. Watson thought that Russell won't complete the delivery and let it go. He was obviously unhappy and walked up to the umpires protesting it, but it was turned down. Watson, though, had his revenge when he bowled Russell later in the match. When KKR coach Bayliss was asked about the innovation, the Aussie said: "If he would have asked me before bowling that one, I would have said no."