NEW DELHI — Kolkata Knight Riders thrashed Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata Friday night with Yusuf Pathan finally striking form. He delivered by scoring an unbeaten 49 but it was some exceptional bowling earlier that ensured their dominance to keep alive their slim hopes of qualifying for the playoffs. Chasing a relatively small target of 133, Kolkata was home with nearly three overs to spare. Pathan and Kallis shared an enterprising unbroken 88-run stand for the third wicket as Kolkata cruised to victory in the 18th over. Pathan hogged the limelight with some power hitting smashing three boundaries and as many sixes during his 35-ball knock. Kallis was not out on 33 from 30 balls cracking two boundaries and a six. Manvinder Bisla set the ball rolling by contributing 29 off 25 deliveries with the help of four boundaries and a six. Earlier, Kolkata bowlers maintained a tidy line never giving the Rajasthan batsmen to cut loose restricting the visitors to 132 for 5. Sunil Narine, who was introduced late into the attack, was particularly impressive giving away only 20 runs from his four overs taking one wicket. Rajat Bhatia was equally good claiming a wicket in his four-over spell conceding only 21 runs and Sachithra Senanayake bagging two wickets in his four overs. Shane Watson (35), Sanju Samson (40) and Owais Shah (24) were the main contributors for Rajasthan. Scores: Rajasthan Royals 132 for 6 (Sanju Vishwanadh 40, Sachithra Senanayake 2-26) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 133 for 2 in 17.2 overs (Yusuf Pathan 49*, Shane Watson 1-21) by 8 wickets. Dispute over voting The head of South Africa's players' union says Indian interests have forced a re-vote for the position of players' representative on the International Cricket Council cricket committee, threatening to prevent the election of Tim May, who had near unanimous support among other nations. Tony Irish, who is also on the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations, said initial voting for the post by the 10 Test captains had overwhelmingly chosen Australian May, who has been a long-term senior players' advocate. However a re-vote was called and after lobbying by Indian interests, Irish said the voting was now 5-5 or perhaps even 6-4 in favor of India's preferred candidate Laxman Sivaramakrishnan. — Agencies
