KOLKATA - Yusuf Pathan smashed the fastest IPL fifty - off 15 balls - as Kolkata Knight Riders beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by fours wickets to register their ninth win and seal the second spot behind Kings XI Punjab on Saturday night. KKR needed to chase SRH's 160 in 15.2 overs and they did it with six balls to go.
SRH had themselves to blame as they dropped Pathan twice, on 0 and 15 and the big batsman made them pay big time, scoring 72 off 22 balls with the help of five fours and seven sixes. Srikkanth Anirudh, who replaced Aaron Finch for this game, and Dale Steyn were the culprits, assisting Pathan a great deal.
Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa set the tone for the KKR chase, adding 43 runs before Gambhir chopped one Jason Holder delivery on to his stumps for 28 in the fifth over. Legspinner Karn Sharma dealt the hosts a second blow when he had Manish Pandey (2) caught by Steyn at long-off.
The KKR innings looked in shambles when Robin Uthappa and Ryan ten Doeschate departed in the 10th over bowled by Karn. While Uthappa (41) found Holder at long-on, ten Doeschate (0) ran himself out. But Pathan rose to the occasion and entertained one and all with his big-hitting. Amidst his pyrotechnics, Shakib Al Hasan's wicket for one was the only blemish.
Earlier, SRH managed to post 160 for 7 on a lively Eden Gardens pitch. SRH had captain Darren Sammy and Holder plenty to thank for some quick runs towards the end that took them to a fighting total. After being put in to bat by KKR, there were plenty of expectations from the in-form David Warner and when he pulled Morne Morkel for a four off the first ball of the innings, he looked set for another significant contribution. However, Morkel avenged himself off the very next delivery, uprooting Warner's off-stump with a peach of a delivery.
Morkel got plenty of bounce off the deck and made life difficult for Shikhar Dhawan, with several deliveries beating the left-hander neck and crop. Dhawan fortunately survived the assault and soon found his touch back, unleashing a few cuts on the offside. Dhawan found an able partner in wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha who got two fours off the difficult-to-hit Sunil Narine in the first over the West Indian bowled.
Ojha was looking good for a big score but attempted one shot too many, falling to Umesh Yadav for 26 after adding 64 runs with Dhawan.
Scoring slowed down after Ojha's departure as Narine and Shakib bowled a tight spell. It was actually their economical bowling that brought about Dhawan's run-out. Desperate to get quick runs, Dhawan drove one Shakib delivery pretty well and ran straight away expecting at least two runs but to his horror, a diving Pandey brilliantly stopped the ball at cover and threw it back to wicketkeeper Uthappa in a flash. Dhawan (29) was way out of the crease when Uthappa removed the bails.
Venugopal Rao and Darren Sammy rode their luck - both were dropped once by Narine and Yusuf Pathan respectively - adding 32 runs off 16 balls before Rao ran himself out for 27. Anirudh was sent back by Shakib as Uthappa stumped him for 3. With a light drizzle encompassing the stadium, Sammy (29) and Holder (16) exploded, adding a quick 28 to brighten things up for their team. The 19th over bowled by Yadav yielded 17 runs.

POINT TABLE

Teams    Mat    Won    Lost    Pts    Net RR
Punjab    13    10    3    20    +0.810
Chennai    14    9    5    18    +0.385
Kolkata    13    8    5    16    +0.264
Rajasthan    13    7    6    14    +0.247
Mumbai    13    6    7    12    -0.086
Hyderabad    13    6    7    12    -0.231
Bangalore    14    5    9    10    -0.428
Delhi    13    2    11    4    -1.043

Scoreboard

HYDERABAD:
DA Warner b Morkel    4
S Dhawan run out    29
NV Ojha c & b ten Doeschate    26
Y Venugopal Rao run out    27
DJG Sammy c Shakib b Vinay    29
S Anirudha st Uthappa b Shakib    3
JO Holder run out    16
KV Sharma not out    5
Parvez Rasool not out    0
EXTRAS: (lb 13, w 8)    21
TOTAL: (7 wickets; 20 overs)    160
FOW: 1-5, 2-69, 3-89, 4-121, 5-127, 6-155, 7-155
BOWLING: M Morkel 4-1-32-1, R Vinay Kumar 4-0-32-1, SP Narine 4-0-19-0, UT Yadav 3-0-32-0, RN ten Doeschate 1-0-7-1, Shakib Al Hasan 4-1-25-1
KOLKATA:
RV Uthappa c Holder b Sharma    41
G Gambhir b Holder    28
MK Pandey c Steyn b Sharma    2
YK Pathan c Dhawan b Sharma    72
RN ten Doeschate run out    0
Shakib Al Hasan c Holder b Sharma    1
SA Yadav not out    12
R Vinay Kumar not out    0
EXTRAS: (lb 1, w 2, nb 2)    5
TOTAL: (6 wickets; 14.2 overs)    161
FOW: 1-43, 2-55, 3-77, 4-78, 5-116, 6-153
BOWLING: B Kumar 2.2-0-22-0, DW Steyn 4-0-43-0, JO Holder 3-0-35-1, KV Sharma 4-0-38-4, Parvez Rasool 1-0-22-0
TOSS: Kolkata
UMPIRES: RM Deshpande, BNJ Oxenford (Aus)
TV UMPIRE: C Shamshuddin
MATCH REFEREE: J Srinath