Brad Hodge scored an unbeaten 70 from just 43 balls to propel Knight Riders to an impressive 153-3 after electing to bat against Kings XI Punjab at Port Elizabeth on Sunday.
After a sedate start, which saw them lose Chris Gayle for 17, Kolkata struggled to get a move on the proceedings with captain Brendon McCullum failing to put the ball away. He laboured to 19 after facing 31 balls before falling to Piyush Chawla.
But the Australian Hodge, who returned to form with 73 in a losing cause in the previous match against Mumbai Indians, added 51 with Sourav Ganguly (22) before another 48-run unbeaten stand with Morne van Wyk (18 not out) carried them.
Kolkata were 92-2 after 15 overs but Hodge’s brutal assault helped them add 61 from the last five overs. The last over, bowled by Irfan Pathan alone went for 21 runs.
Kolkata went into the game with only one win out of their seven matches, which also came off against the same Kings XI Punjab outfit. They were boosted by the extension of Chris Gayle’s stay in South Africa for another game.
Punjab, who lost their last fixture against Bangalore Royal Challengers, made one change to their line-up bringing in Sunny Sohal for Karan Goel while the Knight Riders went in unchanged.
