As we are reaching towards the end of the fifth season of the ongoing Indian Premier League, the four teams that stand apart from the crowd are Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Dare Devils, Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings (by luck). The first play off at the Sahara Subrato Roy Stadium Pune, played between KKR and DDD, Kolkata reigns supreme and reaches final on Tuesday.

KKR won the toss and elected to bat. Gautam Gambhir and Brendon Mc Cullum gave a tremendous start for the KKR and scored 32 and 31 runs. However it was the splendid knock of Yousuf Pathan that played the crucial point for victory. Pathan backed up by Laxmi Shukla played some good shots and took the KKR to 162/4 in the stipulated twenty overs. The two batsmen remained not out and scored 40 and 24 runs individually. For the Delhi team on the bowling fronts Irafan Pathan, Pawan Negi and Umesh Yadav claimed a wicket each. They bowled pretty neatly, and just gave away 4 extras in the whole match.

With a target of 163 runs to be met Delhi team led by Virender Sehwag succumbed to pressure. Only Mahela Jeyawardene played better among the lot. Individually he scored 40 runs and Pragnyan Ojha scored 28 runs. The rest made just ornamental entry to the crease. Delhi finally wound up to 144/8 and lost out by 18 runs. On the bowling fronts for the KKR Jacques Kallis and Sunil Narine claimed two wickets each.

Yousuf Pathan’s blistering knock made him the automatic choice for the Man of the Match. The second play off is scheduled for the day at the M A Chinnaswami Stadium Bengaluru, between Chennai and Mumbai. The loser of this match will be out of the tournament. Delhi will again meet the winner of this play off to fight for a place in the final. As of now Kolkata has entered the final. (With Inputs from Internet- Aarkay)