Kolkata Knight Riders thrashed Delhi Daredevils by six wickets in a lopsided contest at the Ferozshah Kotla Monday to go top in the Indian Premier League standings. Chasing a modest target of 154, Kolkata knocked off the runs with eight balls to spare, courtesy Brendon McCullum's 56 and his 68-run opening stand with skipper Gautam Gambhir (36). Kolkata now leads the points table with 17 points and is all but through to the knock-out stage. With Sehwag and Kevin Pietersen doing the bulk of the scoring in the earier matches, the Daredevils middle-order was put to test for the first time and it failed miserably. The likes of Ross Taylor, Yogesh Nagar should take bulk of the blame as they couldn't stand-up and be counted when their team needed them most. The defeat is certainly a wake-up call for Sehwag's boys. The Daredevils lost the match within the Powerplay overs as Gambhir and McCullum started off from where they left off against Pune Warriors. McCullum, who has started to find some form, smashed Irfan Pathan for successive boundaries while Gambhir hit left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem for two fours and a six in the fourth over of the innings that fetched 16 runs. Varun Aaron finally managed to dismiss Gambhir. It was a delivery that climbed up on Gambhir as he tried to play the dab-shot to third-man only to inside edge onto his stumps. However, there was no stopping McCullum as he continued playing his shots with ease. With Jacques Kallis (30, 27 balls, 3×4) playing the role of a second fiddle to perfection, McCullum repeatedly bisected the fielders between fine leg and mid-wicket after being gifted with deliveries on his pads. He completed his 50 with a couple off Morne Morkel off 40 balls. Earlier, Delhi failed to fire up as a batting unit as Kolkata restricted it to a manageable 153 for nine in its stipulated 20 overs. Sehwag blasting 23 off only nine deliveries but failed to convert his good start. The likes of David Warner (21), Mahela Jayawardene (30) got out just when they looked settling in, while Ross Taylor (16)'s woeful run with the willow affected Daredevils' chance of putting up a good score. It was only due to Irfan Pathan's (36, 22 balls, 4×4, 1×6) lusty blows that Kolkata crossed the 150-mark.
