The Gayle Force Does It Again

On yet another overcast day in South Africa, two teams who were being written off after their first matches, squared off against each other with each hoping desperately to avoid defeat. Both teams would have been aware that this was a match they had to win to regain credibility with their supporters.

Brendom McCullum won the toss, and opted to field. For Kolkata, there was still no Mendis in the playing eleven, although they made one change - dropping Agarkar for rookie Yashpal Singh. Punjab retained the same eleven that played against Delhi.

Kolkatta started off well, with Ishant Sharma finding his rhythm and getting Karan Goel caught in the slips by Chris Gayle in his first over. That brought Irfan Pathan to the crease, who was promoted to No.3. Irfan swung his bat lustily and was looking ominous, when Sourav Ganguly turned things around for his team with a superb first over that saw him pick up two wickets and beat Yuvraj's bat a couple of times.

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