IPL Final Deccan Chargers Vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

Match Date :- 24.05.2009

Deccan Chargers Crowned 2009 IPL Champions

The Deccan Chargers completed a fairytale turnaround to win the 2009 Indian Premier League with a six-run win over the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Johannesburg.
The side that finished at the bottom of the table last year, and fourth this time around, posted 143 for six before restricting the Challengers to 137 for nine in a tense finale to the 59-match tournament in South Africa.
Herschelle Gibbs played the leading role with the bat before Pragyan Ojha, with three wickets, and two wickets in two balls at a crucial stage from Andrew Symonds ensured that as with both group matches between these two sides, the side batting first prevailed.
Gibbs stroked an unbeaten 53 in 48 balls with three fours and two sixes as he anchored the Deccan innings which never really got into top gear on a pitch that was playing slower than it had for yesterday's semi-final, which made quick batting tricky.
Symonds excelled again, smashing 33 in 21 balls before he pulled Anil Kumble onto his stumps. Kumble's first move had been to open the bowling himself and have Adam Gilchrist bowled with a googly for a duck but he would end up on the losing side, marooned at the non-striker's end as Robin Uthappa failed to hit the necessary boundaries as the run-rate spiralled out of control.
Rohit Sharma helped himself to a four and a six, hitting a neat and tidy 24 before Kumble hit back, finishing with four for 16, dismissing Symonds, Sharma and Yalaka Venugopal Rao (0).
Vinay Kumar, who took two for 30, including the wicket of Azhar Bilakhia for six in a superb final over, was the other bowler to get in the wickets.
The Challengers must have been confident in pursuit fo 144 and for a long while they appeared in pole position to make it. Jacques Kallis made 15 before he pulled RP Singh onto his stumps and there was to be no heroics for Manish Pandey, who made four from eight before Ojha had him caught by Gilchrist.
However, Roelof van der Merwe kept things ticking along, thumping three sixes and a four in a barnstorming innings of 32 in 21 balls to give the Challengers a much-needed boost.
His dismissal, however, sparked a mini-collapse as Rahul Dravid (9) perished, losing his leg stump to Harmeet Singh and the dangerous Ross Taylor (27) and Virat Kohli (7) were dismissed in consecutive deliveries by Symonds. Taylor holed out to Rao before Kohli was stumped by Gilchrist, a fine piece of work down the leg side.
That left the Challengers reeling and when Boucher, a man who has a long association with successful run chases at Johannesburg, steered Singh into the hands of Herschelle Gibbs for just five, the Chargers sensed victory.
With Uthappa unable to do more than one six in the penultimate over, and Praveen Kumar (2) and Vinay Kumar (8) losing their wickets, the win was sealed thanks to a nerveless final over from RP Singh.
The Challengers are left to reflect on losing a game they should have won, ruing the fact that they bowled five wides to Deccan's one, and failed to build any lasting partnerships during their chase.
That allowed the Chargers to complete their stunning turnaround from bottom of the pile to top dog in just over a year.

2nd Semifinal Chennai Super Kings Vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

Match Date :- 23.05.2009

Bangalore won by 6 wickets and gone into final

Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Chennai Super Kings by six wickets to barge their way into the finals of the IndianPremier League-2, here on Saturday. Experience and youth joined forces to thwart the Chennai attack as both Rahul Dravid and Manish Pandey played important innings to take the game away from their opponents.
Pandey oozed confidence, thanks to the hundred he got in the previous game and did not let the pressure of expectations get to him. Dravid on the other hand was at his elegant best, as both of them snatched game away from Dhoni's team. At the end Virat Kohli and Ross Taylor brought home the champagne moments as the Royal Challengers team rushed on to the field to celebrate the moment. There were smiles, hugs and clenched fists as the Challengers moved into the finals of the contest. Manish Pandey received the Man of the Match award for his crucial knock of 48 runs.

The Bangalore boys were off to a hurricane start as Manish Pandey struck Morkel for consecutive boundaries. Jacques Kallis hit a forceful square cut over backward point to get off the mark. The South African star though edged a delivery from Manpreet Gony as gave Chennai their first wicket. van der Merwe was dropped by Murali in the deep but he did not make most it as the very next ball he got clean bowled by Morkel. Manish Pandey continued from where he left off in the last game and played some elegant shots through the cover region. Rahul Dravid got into the act and played a beautiful straight drive off Jakati and then slog swept him for four. The young and the old intermingled to guide the Royal Challengers towards victory. A confident Manish kept punishing the Chennai bowlers attacking them with unsparing weapons as Dravid got into the classical mode. At the end of the first ten overs the duo brought the Royal Challengers score to 82 and had manufactured a 60 run partnership.

Both of them looked in complete control at the crease until Pandey played got bowled by Jakati, attempting to play an across the line sweep shot. The Karnataka batsman missed the 50 mark by two runs. Rahul Dravid was in the zone and played a scorching square drive off Balaji for four. He looked determined to see off the proceedings. The match was set to go down the wire and it became more tense when Dravid departed after scoring valuable 44 runs. The wall tried to sweep Murali and was caught plumb in front. Raina's over proved to be expensive as Taylor and Kohli smashed two sixes a piece and closed in on the target. Dhoni banked on Muralitharan to give him a wicket but all that the spin wizard could do is stare at massive six hit by Kohli over the long on boundary. Twelve runs were required off the same number of deliveries when Jacob Oram was called into the attack, and the first ball of the over was smashed by Ross Taylor for a six. Victory now was the door step of the Royal Challengers.

Bangalore Royal Challengers won the toss and after missing the last game Matthew Hayden walked out to open the innings with Patel. Hayden was supposed to be the prized wicket for the Challengers, but it was the pocket dynamo Parthiv Patel who exploded at the start. The wicket-keeper looked in an imperious mood and smashed the bowlers all over the park. A risk-laden shot from Hayden off Kumble's bowling brought up the Chennai fifty in the sixth over. The pressure was wholely and squarely on the Royal Challengers. The duo played authentic cricketing shots and toyed with the bowling attack. The breakthrough arrived when Vinay Kumar removed Hayden for 26. The leftie holed at midwicket when he tried to play across the line and lobbed a catch to Manish Pandey in the deep.

Kallis got rid of a rampant Parthiv for 36 runs, when he trapped him in front of the wickets. Simon Taufel's finger was raised and Royal Challengers were back in the game. The disciplined bowling was now showing its impact full on as the Chennai Super Kings scored at a run rate of just 5.60 in the last five overs before the time-out. Suresh Raina hit Vinay Kumar first for a four and then for a huge six as he tried to put the foot on the pedal and increase the run rate. The Dhoni-Raina duo ran fast between the wickets and took regular two's. Raina's innings was put to end by his Uttar Pradesh team mate Praveen Kumar. The dangerous left-hander miscued a leg-cutter from Kumar and managed to give a catch to Mark Boucher, who completed the job with ease.

Albie Morkel hit a towering six of Anil Kumble over the midwicket fence. Dhoni tried to step up the run rate but his innings ended at 28 when Vinay took a well judged catch just near the boundary. Jacob Oram showed a glimpse of his stunning power when he smacked Praveen Kumar for six over long on. Oram tried to continue the pyrotechnics but scooped a catch to third man where Uthappa hung on to the ball. Albie Morkel hit the last ball of the final over for a boundary and the Chennai Super Kings finished off with 146 runs on the board. A well bowled last over costed just six runs for the Royal Challengers.

The Chennai Super Kings had clearly not been able to capitalise on the terrific start provided by opener Parthiv Patel and looked 20 runs short of a competitive target. The Royal Challengers had copped up the beating early on but hung on to pull back the game in their favour. All the bowlers did their bit in putting pressure on the Chennai batsman. Vinay Kumar ended up with two wickets. Roelf van der Merwe bowled brilliantly and gave away just 23 runs in his four overs.

IPL Semi Final 1 Deccan Chargers Vs Delhi Dare Devils

Match Date :- 22.05.2009

Deccan Chargers won by 6 wickets

Adam Gilchrist is the new Nizam and Hyderabad are a step away from being the champions of India. No, Team Delhi didn’t do anything wrong,just that they were dazzled by an old man’s frenzy that threw them out of the IPL, yet again in the semi-finals. Gilchrist went back in time, probably to March 23, 2003, when he rattled India in an opening burst to help Australia retain the World Cup. There was a sense of deja vu as Ashish Nehra ran into bowl, and Gilchrist put him out of the park with effortless ease, just as he had done some six years back. The assault, though, started with a brutal attack on one of the best bowler of the tournament, Dirk Nannes. Chasing 154, he took 21 off Nannes’ first over, employing all the shots that could have been played. Anything short was hooked or pulled mercilessly, and if the bowler dared to pitch it up, it was driven down the ground. Spinners came on as early as the fifth over, but there was no shift in momentum. Gilly swept Pragyan Ojha and when he hit three sixes in a Virender Sehwag over, the writing was on the wall. Looking clueless and dispirited, Delhi merely hoped that Gilly would play a wrong shot and get out. He edged one to get out in the 10th over, but by then the score was 102, off which the legend had contributed 85 (off 35 balls)! The rest was child’s play and with the likes of Andrew Symonds around, it took Hyderabad eight more overs to reach the target. Earlier, Gilly’s decision to play medium-pacer Ryan Harris paid off as he dismissed Gautam Gambhir and David Warner in the first over. The Hyderabad attack was looking all charged up, but Sehwag knew how important it was for him to stay at the wicket. The Delhi dasher never took a backward step and kept counter-attacking the Hyderabad attack. Standing tall, he carted Harris and RP Singh around the park and Tillekeratne Dilshan (65 off 51 balls), too, gave him excellent support. It had to be the strategy break to break Viru’s rhythm and right after the interval, the skipper missed the line of an Andrew Symonds delivery to be caught plumb in front. But Dilshan carried on with the good work that he had been doing right through the tournament, finding the gaps and keeping the scoreboard ticking. He was joined by AB de Villiers, who attacked right away and it seemed that a score of 170 was on the cards. But RP struck right when the game was drifting away from them, inducing an edge off AB, and Hyderabad were back in the hunt. Both RP and Harris were excellent in the last few overs, pitching it right up in the blockhole and varying the pace, which made it difficult for a well-set Dilshan to give the final push to the innings. But with the kind of form Gilchrist was in, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference either.

Man of the Match :- Adam Gilchrist

Gilchrist gave us no chance: Sehwag ( Times of India )

When Adam Gilchrist gets going there's very little anybody can do and Delhi Daredevils captain Virender Sehwag admitted as much when he said they were done in by the Deccan Chargers skipper's hurricane knock. Gilchrist plundered 85 runs from 35 balls with 10 boundaries and five sixes that helped Deccan defeat Delhi by six wickets and storm into the final of the Indian Premier League. "The way Gilchrist batted we had no chance," Sehwag conceded at the post-match ceremony. "The bowlers had no clue. It wasn't our day," lamented the Delhi Daredevils skipper. Delhi fought back after losing two wickets in the very first over to post 153 for eight. "I thought 153 was a defendable total but the way Gilchrist batted, we could do very little. It was Gilchrist's day," said Sehwag. The man of the moment hadn't played for over a year before the IPL but Gilchrist showed no signs of rustiness. "It was great to come back after a year and play well," said Gilchrist. Asked about his hurricane knock, Gilchrist said, "I just wanted to stay on and try and get close to their run rate and if possible pull ahead. Wanted to put them under a bit of pressure." Gilchrist praised the team's bowlers for restricting Delhi to 153. "The guys did well to restrict them to 150," he said. Last year, they finished bottom of the table and now they are just a win away from the title and Gilchrist admitted that having come this far, they would be fancying their chances. "You can always fancy our chances in Twenty20 cricket. It's a two-horse race now and we know our target," said Gilchrist.

Bangalore Royal Challengers Vs Deccan Chargers

Match date :-21.05.2009

Bangalore won by 12 runs.

Royal challengers banaglore won their fourth consecutive game as they beat Deccan Chargers by 12 runs, here on Thursday. Bangalore bowlers restricted the Deccan batsman to just 158 in their full quota of overs, to bring home victory for the side.
The star of the show was young Manish Pandey who earlier in the day played a heart-warming innings of 114 runs and remained unbeaten till the end. Sent out to open with Jacques Kallis,the Karnataka batsman made most of the opportunity and smashed his maiden hundred in the Indian Premier League. Pandey not only hit powerful shots but embellished his innings with some graceful cover drives to the fence and became the first Indian to make a hundred in a twenty-twenty game. The lad from Bangalore received the Man of the Match award for his effort with the willow

Buoyed by a cracking hundred from Manish Pandey, the Royal Challengers set about the task of defending the target. Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs provided a fiery start to the innings. The duo took to Praveen Kumar and hit him for 22 runs. The opening partnership brought up the Deccan fifty in no time, but couldn't flourish on as Balachandra Akhil removed Adam Gilchrist for 15 runs. Gilly's dismissal checked the Deccan chargers run rate somewhat, though Herschelle Gibbs carried on to make fifty in 32 deliveries. The blistering knock included three hits to the fence and four sensational sixes.

Andrew Symonds walked in after T Suman gave a catch to van der Merwe at cover. He along with Gibbs put forth a 25-run partnership until the explosive South African went for a pull off an Akhil delivery and 'man of the moment' Manish Pandey held on to the catch at long on. Gibbs went for 60 and Symonds followed him soon as he played an across the line slog-sweep and was clean bowled by van der Merwe . The Royal Challengers looked on the top after the removal of two big players. However, with Rohit Sharma still batting, the danger was not yet over. Venugopal Rao sacrificed his wicket in a needless run-out. Rao's sacrifice though was squandered away when Sharma holed out in the deep to Virat Kohli. Anil Kumble's low full-toss doing the job this time.
Bangalore Royal Challengers won the toss and Anil Kumble decided to put runs on the board first up. Manish Pandey was sent out to open along with veteran Jacques Kallis. The hero of the last match could not last long as he flicked RP's delivery straight into the hands of Pragyan Ohja at short square leg. Singh though was not generous to his bowling partner Ryan Harris, when he dropped Pandey at third man. The batsman rubbed salt into the wound by smashing Harris for a four in the next ball. Roelf van der Merwe looked restless on the crease as he tried to slog almost every ball towards the boundary. The South African allrounder huffed-puffed and hit Ojha for a six over midwicket. Manish Pandey at the other played with a sense of freedom and sandwiched some classy shots inbetween some mis-timed slog hits. At the stroke of the strategy break Gilchrist stumped van Der Merwe for 23 and the Royal Challengers ended the first ten overs with 64 runs in the bank.

After the break Pandey unfurled his strokes and hit Suman for two smooth sixes that came of consecutive balls. Pandey looked comfortable and at complete ease in the middle and brought up his fifty in 36 deliveries. Bangalore accelerated their run-rate on the back of his stroke-play as he continued to smash both the fast bowlers and the spinners alike. The hundred was up for the Royal Challengers in the fourteenth over. Pandey not only hit the ball had but had the intelligence to use the fast bowler's pace as he glided a delivery from Jaskaran Singh through the third man boundary for four runs. Jaskaran's over was further spoiled when the Banglorean cleared his left leg and smashed Singh for a massive six over the long on boundary. A bad over became more worse as Pandey got a thick edge that flew to the third man boundary again for a lucky four. The Deccan attack bowled well but the Karnataka batsman still came up on the top and dominated them heavily.

Manish Pandey's batting hurt Deccan Chargers and his dropped catch early on proved to be costly as the youngster notched his first IPL hundred and the second one of the series itself. Pandey's efforts with bat was enthusiastically cheered by his team members. The 100 came up in just 68 balls. RP Singh leaked more runs in his final over when Virat Kohli dug into him as he smashed two massive sixes, Pandey also had fun smacking one for his own, straight over RP's head. The last over cost the Chargers a whopping 23 runs as the Royal Challengers posted a healthy score of 170 runs. Manish Pandey's scintillating stroke-play fetched him 114 runs and he remained unbeaten in the end.

Delhi Dare Devils VS Mumbai Indians

Match date :- 21.05.2009
Delhi won by 4 wickets

Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir marked their return to form with blistering knocks as Delhi Daredevils prepared for the IPL semifinals with a comfortable four-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians in their last league match here on Thursday.
After restricting Mumbai Indians to 165 for eight, Sehwag cracked 27-ball 50 while Gambhir blasted 47 off 38 balls to guide their team to victory at Supersports park.
The Daredevils, who had already assured themselves of a berth in the semifinals, could have won with a bigger margin had they not lost four wickets in quick succession to make it a little tight in the end.
Chasing 166 to win, Delhi had a rollicking start with opener David Warner (15) and Gambhir clobbering the pacers all over the park, which included a six off Dhawal Kulkarni over long on by Warner.
However, the Australian was sent packing by Kulkarni when he mishit a raising delivery only to lob it to Ashraful.
Skipper Virender Sehwag then joined Gambhir in the middle and the duo recreated their old magic by stitching together a 68-run partership for the second wicket to help Delhi score fifty in 5.2 overs and then reached 104 in 11 overs.
Out of form, Sehwag found his form back and treated the bowlers with disdain. Kulkarni was at his receiving end in the sixth over when he dispatched the lanky pacer three times across the boundary to accumulate 14 runs.
In the 10th over, Sehwag picked up his first six off Abhishek Nayar and followed it up with two more fours to score 16 runs off the over.
Gambhir, meanwhile, kept the scoreboard ticking before his mishit skier was caught by Ashraful at third man in the 12th over.
After cruising along comfortably at 104 for one at one stage, Delhi lost the wickets of Tillakaratne Dilshan (24) and Sehwag in successive deliveries in the 15th over to slump to 144 for four.
Two overs later, inform AB De Villiers (6) and Rajat Bhatia (2) returned to the hut to reduce Delhi to 153 for six with Harbahjan Singh capturing all the four wickets giving away only 17 runs.
But by then it was too late as Amit Mishra picked up the winning run to take his team home in 17.3 overs.
Earlier, Ajinkya Rahane cracked a brisk 41-ball 56, while Sachin Tendulkar hit a patient 46 as Mumbai Indians posted a competitive 165 for eight.
Rahane stitched together a 54-ball 73-run partnership with Tendulkar for the fourth wicket to anchor the Mumbai Indians innings.
Rahane's innings was studded with five boundaries and two hits over the fence.
Mumbai made a shaky start, losing three quick wickets -- Sanath Jayasuriya (0), JP Duminy (9) and Mohammad Ashraful (2) -- as they stuttered to 31 for 3 in the first six overs.
Australian Dirk Nannes in his first legal delivery in the first over trapped Jayasuriya leg before wicket to put Mumbai on the back foot.
Tendulkar then played two beautiful looking shots at square leg and mid-off to step up the tempo, while new man Duminy also got into the act, greeting Nannes with a flashy hook and a straight drive for successive boundaries.
However, Nannes had the last laugh as he sent him packing of the next ball, when Duminy nicked his away swinging delivery only to be caught behind by Dinesh Karthik. Playing his first match in the IPL, Bangladesh import Ashraful also didn't last long and was sent back into the hut by Pradeep Sangwan in his first over.
Tendulkar and Rahane then steadied the ship and were involved in some copybook shots and quick singles to bring up the fifty in 7.3 overs and then the hundred in 13 overs.
But three balls later, all-rounder Rajat Bhatia brought Delhi back into the game, as he got rid off Tendulkar. Trying to make room for himself, Tendulkar found his furniture shattered by Bhatia's straight delivery.
However, Rahane kept the scoreboard ticking and sent Amit Mishra across mid-wicket for a four and then brought up the first six of the Mumbai innings in the 17th over with a flashy strike over extra-cover.
In the next over, Rahane picked up the second six off Aavishkar Salvi. Pinal Shah (12), Harbhajan Singh (12) also played some useful shots in the end to help Mumbai across the 150 mark.

Chennai Super kings Vs KXI Punjab

Match date :- 20.05.2009

Chennai super kings won by 24 runs

Muttiah Muralalitharan-led spin department sizzled in the tricky Kingsmead conditions as Chennai Super Kings beat XI Punjab by 24-runs in a low-scoring match to virtually knock the Yuvraj Singh-led side out of the Indian Premier League.
Muralitharan (2/8), R Ashwin (2/13) and Suresh Raina (2/17) spun their web around Punjab batsmen and saved the day for Chennai as Yuvraj men's found runs hard to come by in the low and slow conditions and could only manage 92 for eight in their alloted 20 overs.
Left-arm pacer Thilan Thushara, playing his first match of the tournament, also picked up two wickets for 28 runs.
With this win Chennai became the second team after Delhi Daredevils to have secured their semifinal spot with 17 points from 14 matches.
On the other hand, Punjab with 14 points in their kitty desperately needed to win today's match to assure themselves of a semifinal spot.
Yuvraj's men still have a slim chance to make it to the last four but their negative net run rate may work against them and they will be hoping for a miracle to happen in the last league match between Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Earlier, S Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan snapped two wickets each as Kings XI Punjab restricted formidable Chennai Super Kings to a paltry 116 for nine.
Kings XI's run chase started on disastrous note as they lost dangerous Sunny Sohal early in the second over, caught by Parthiv Patel off Thushara.
Simon Katich was next to depart clean bowled behind his legs by Muralitharan to send Punjab in a spot of bother at 32/2 after six overs.
As expected Punjab batsmen found scoring tough against Chennai spinners. Their struggle can be ascertained from the fact that they score just 13 runs in the last four over before the strategic timeout.
Needing 72 off 54 deliveries, willy Muralitharan struck again when he induced an edge from Luke Pomersbach (26 off 32) that Raina pounced sharply at the first slip to see the Sri Lankan end his spell with superb figures of 4-0-8-2.
Raina then ended Yuvraj's struggle at the middle, disturbing the Punjab skipper's stumps in the very next over to give his side the upper hand in the contest.
Ashwin drived the final nail in Punjab's coffin picking up two wickets in the 16th over. He first scalped Kumar Sangakkara with a smart catch off his own bowling and then trapped Wilkin Mota in front of the stumps.
Brett Lee was the next to go caught in the deep by Oram off Raina and then Irfan Pathan (14 off 12) followed in search of big hits caught by Oram of Thushara.
Earlier, Parthiv Patel (32 off 23 balls) and George Bailey (15) got Chennai of to a flying start scoring 35 runs in the first four overs.
Both Patel and Bailey struck a boundary each in the second over to pick 11 runs off Irfan Pathan (2/32).
Patel was the aggressive among the two and was particularly severe on Pathan. The diminutive left-hander added further misery for Pathan when he clobbered him for a four and a six over midwicket in his next over.
It took Yuvraj Singh's magic on the field to break the dangerous looking partnership. The Punjab skipper came up with a direct hit from mid-off to catch Bailey short of the crease.
The big breakthrough came in the seventh over when Ramesh Powar (1/19) bowled Patel to put brakes on Chennai scoring.
But it was Sreesanth (2/23) who turned the fortunes in Punjab's favour, inflicting twin blows just before the strategy break getting the important wickets of S Badrinath and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni in a span of three balls.
The maverick pacer first fooled Bardrinath, and then cleaned up Dhoni's timber a ball later with a gem of an inswinger with Chennai scoreboard reading 70/4 at the halfway.
Medium pacer Wilkin Mota (1/8) compounded further misery for Chennai when he got Suresh Raina (20 off 21) before Piyush Chawla (1/13) cleaning up Manpreet Gony in the next over.
Jacob Oram (17 off 21) tried hard to resurrect the Chennai innings but ultimately feel in search of quick runs.
Brief score:
Chennai Super Kings: 116 for 9 wickets in 20 overs (P Patel 32, S Raina 20; I Pathan 2/32, S Sreesanth 2/23).
Kings XI Punjab: 92 for 8 wickets in 20 overs (L Pomersbach 26, I Pathan 14; M Muralitharan 2/8, S Raina 2/17).

Rajasthan Royals Vs Kolkata Knight Riders

Match date :- 20.05.2009

Kolkata won against Rajasthan

Defending champions Rajasthan Royals were knocked out of the Indian premier League after Kolkata Knight Riders pulled off an upset four-wicket victory in a low-scoring thriller on Wednesday.
After restricting Royals to a modest 101 for nine, the Knight Riders recovered from a stunning top-order collapse to romp home with three balls to spare in a nerve-wracking contest, which went down to the wire at the Kingsmead.
All-rounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla (Man of the Match) turned out to be the hero for the Knight Riders with an unbeaten 48 off 46 balls while paceman Charl Langeveltd (3/15) did the damage with the ball to ensure that his team finished the tournament on a winning note.
Rajasthan, who desperately needed a win to keep their semi-final hopes alive, paid a heavy price for a poor batting display which eventually saw them crashing out of the tournament. Naman Ojha top scored with 22.
The Royals thus finished their IPL II engagements with 13 points from 14 matches while Kolkata, who were out of the reckoning, completed their engagements with 7 points.
The Kolkata Knight Riders run chase began on a disastrous note as they lost five wickets for just 37 runs by the first 10 overs with most of their experienced batsmen in the hut.
The left-handed Sourav Ganguly (0) was the first to depart being dismissed by Munaf Patel while captain Brendon McCullum (9) joined him in the pavilion with young Amit Singh taking his wicket. The in-form Brad Hodge (6), Yashpal Singh (6) and David Hussey (9) fell in quick succession to leave Kolkata struggling at 37 for five.
A mix-up which resulted in the run out of Shoaib Shaikh immediately after the strategy break compounded the misery for the Knight Riders.
But Shukla and Ajit Agarkar put on a crucial unbeaten 57-run partnership to steer the team home much to the relief of his teammates.
Earlier, the contest got off to a dramatic start with Rajasthan Royals clobbering Hodge for as many as 22 runs in the very first over with the diminutive opener Naman Ojha belting three sixes to set the tempo for his team.
But the script changed very swiftly for the defending champions as South African paceman Charl Langeveldt, playing his first match in the tournament, struck in his very first ball by scalping opener Rob Quiney (1).
Quiney tried to pull the ball and only managed to top edge it to wicket keeper Shoaib Shaikh, who latched on to a simple catch.
After the flourishing opening over, Rajasthan Royals suddenly found themselves in the pit as they lost Ojha (22), Swapnil Asnodkar and Johan Botha (8) in quick succession to be left tottering at 42 for four by the end of the fifth over. While Ojha was done in by a short pitched delivery by Langeveldt, Asnodkar was needlessly run out trying to go for a non-existent run.
Botha was promoted in the batting order to steady the rocking ship but he also could not survive long, being cleaned up by Ajit Agarkar in his very first ball.
With wickets tumbling at regular intervals, the scoring rate dropped down quite a bit as Niraj Patel and Yusuf Pathan were quite content in dropping anchor and repairing the early damage.
Langaveltd came back for his second spell and snapped up his third wicket by getting rid of Patel, who completely mistimed his shot and Sourav Ganguly held on to a well-judged catch just before the strategy break.
The Royals suffered a huge blow immediately after the break when dangerman Pathan (9) was run out, effectively shattering the team's hopes of piling up a big total.
A few balls later, the defending champions suffered another jolt when Tyron Henderson, reputed to be a big hitter, was run out off a direct hit from David Hussey.
Captain Shane Warne joined the action with his team at a precarious 62 for seven and it was important for his team to play out the 20 overs and take the score to the 100-run mark.