| Scores | Upcoming | Results |
Kolkata: A depleted Delhi outfit came up with a strong performance to make the most of a rain-reduced IPL match against Kolkata, which surrendered by 8 wickets with some 50,000 of their adoring fans in attendance at the Eden Gardens on Thursday.
Invited to set a target after a long delay resulted in a 12 overs-a-side game, Kolkata scored 97 for the loss of 9 wickets after a disastrous start, and the total proved woefully inadequate.
Virender Sehwag (20 off 13) and Aaron Finch (30 off 27) provided a blistering start for Delhi with a 49-run partnership in 38 balls, and Irfan Pathan weathered a wobble to finished it off with a 20-ball 42 that had three sixes and a couple of fours. It was all over in the first ball of the final over. Delhi 100 for 2.
Laxmi Ratan Shukla (26 off 17), Debabrata Das (18 off 9) and Gautam Gambhir (16 off 15) made the most significant contributions in the Kolkata innings as the reduced T20 match became an even more slam-bang affair.
Delhi did well to chip away at the wickets, and a partnership of substance happened as late as the seventh wicket, when Shukla and Das added 31 in 23 balls. South African pacer Morne Morkel, using the freshness in the wicket that the weather brought, ended up with three wickets.
A nor'wester that lashed the city some half-an-hour before the scheduled start, and was accompanied by the summer's strongest showers, added another twist to the tale in what was Eden's first match in Season 5.
Sehwag won a good toss to queer the pitch further for the hosts, the pre-match favourites before the weather butted in. While the groundsmen worked hard to get the pitch and outfield ready after some 45 minutes of rain.
Brendon McCullum, back in the Kolkata ranks after a season with Kochi, began in murderous mood before South African left-arm spinner Roelf van der Merwe got him.
Brief scores
Kolkata Knight Riders 97 for 9 (Shukla 26, M Morkel 3-18)
Delhi Daredevils 100 for 2 (Irfan 42*, Finch 30)
Result Delhi Daredevils won by eight wickets
Points Delhi Daredevils 2, Kolkata Knight Riders 0
MOM Irfan Pathan (Delhi Daredevils)
