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KKR manage to score 136/4 against Pune Warriors

A slow pitch and some disciplined bowling effort by Pune Warriors helped them restrict Kolkata Knight Riders to 136 for four in a final group league encounter of the IPL, here on Saturday.

Brendon McCullum (41, 43 balls, 5x4) and Shakib Al Hasan (42, 30 balls, 3x4, 2x6) added 67 runs for the third wicket in 7.3 overs on a track where strokemaking was difficult but still it looked that KKR were 20 runs short.

For Pune, left-arm seamer Wayne Parnell was the pick of the bowlers with impressive figures of two for 18 while Bhuveneshwar Kumar and Michael Clarke also got a wicket each.

KKR's in-form captain Gautam Gambhir was out early when he failed to clear the mid-on fielder off Parnell's bowling.

The opening pair managed only 21 in 4.3 overs.

McCullum and Jacques Kallis (13) couldn't up the ante on a pitch where the ball wasn't exactly coming on to the bat. A desperate Kallis tried to hit the left-arm spin of Clarke inside-out but only managed to bottom-edge it onto the stumps.

Then McCullum-Shakib partnership started. The right-left combination did nudge singles and twos as KKR crawled to 45 for two in the first 10 overs.

It was the 12th over of the innings when McCullum who was playing sedately cut loose hitting a couple of boundaries.

In the next over, Shakib hit Clarke for two huge sixes and in between those two shots was dropped by Parnell in the deep mid-wicket.

The 100 came up in the 15th over with 56 being scored in between overs 11th and 15th.

However once McCullum was gone trying to clear extra cover, the scoring rate dipped once again. Shakib who was playing was bowled by Bhuveneshwar's yorker.

Yusuf Pathan (15 no, 10 balls) and Manoj Tiwary (8 no) couldn't produce much fireworks in the final few overs as it looked that KKR are 20 runs short. Both looked woeful out of touch.
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