The Kolkata Knight Riders beat the Deccan Chargers in the 30th game of the tournament by 24 runs to get level on points with Rajasthan and Bangalore. 
The Chargers were left chasing a target of 182 for a win, but lost Adam Gilchrist very early in the chase. Monish Mishra’s presence would have surprised many of the fans, but he seemed to have justified his presence by hitting six boundaries out of the 16 balls he faced. In the process he made 29 and got the side off to a quickish start in partnership with Herschelle Gibbs.
However, the problem that Chargers faced was that both the batsmen got out at times when they looked to be settled in the partnership. First it was Mishra who had got to a 16-ball 29, when he played a rather soft shot to the long-on fielder. Then, it was the turn of Gibbs to get to his half century and play a very loose shot to the ball that could have been hit to the fence with rather ease. He was caught at mid-off and there began the slide.
Andrew Symonds was present at the other end, but he failed to hit the really big strokes when needed, as the pitch looked to have slowed up a lot. Symonds did his best to clear the boundary, but during the time when the asking-rate looked to be mounting to the realms of 14, all he could manage was one boundary in the last four overs.
The Kolkata Knight Riders won by 24 runs in the end.
Earlier, the Kolkata Knight Riders had lost the previous game chasing the total, and hence decided to bat first after winning the toss. Sourav Ganguly began with a boundary and 11 came off the first over, but Chris Gayle was rather slow to start off with. He spanked one four, but off the rest of the deliveries he failed to score and was finally frustrated into playing a delivery straight into the hands of the fielder.
Cheteshwar Pujara started very confidently, but much like Gayle, the slow throttling of his runs was too much for him to handle and he scooped one to Pragyan Ojha. And with the in-form Manoj Tiwary getting bowled off a premeditated sweep shot, the Knight Riders were 68/3 in the ninth over and in a tad bit of a trouble.
However, Sourav Ganguly and David Hussey were the involved in a partnership that saw them add 78 runs in 51 balls. The best part of the innings was that both started off slowly without getting too bogged down by the few balls they needed to play out. And when Pragyan Ojha was got onto bowl the 17th over of the innings, he was torn apart by Ganguly, who smacked three successive sixes in the over.
Ganguly was then dismissed for his 88, but by then, the deed was done, the acceleration obtained and the rest of them pushed it forward to 181/6 in the twenty overs. Hussey also bull dozed a couple of sixes but took 27 balls for his 31, but was a part of the partnership that changed the game around for them.
Ganguly was declared the man of the match.