Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar produced a dream IPL debut with a fiery spell (4-11) while Laxmi Ratan Shukla returned three wickets in five balls to guide Kolkata Knight Riders to a 23 –run victory over Delhi Daredevils at Eden Gardens, Kolkata today.

Delhi restricted Kolkata to 133-6 but themselves came a cropper while chasing a modest target as Akhtar and Shulka shared 7 wickets between them.

Akhtar rocked the visitors with his lethal blows right at the top when he removed the dangerous Sehawag first ball and then accounted for Gambhir (10), AB de Villiers (7) and Manoj Tiwary to break his opponent’s back.

The Delhi innings never gathered momentum once the top order was dismissed cheaply. Dilshan, who made 25, along with Mishra’s 31 proved to be the only solace for Delhi otherwise sorry tale.

Earlier, Kolkata batted first to reach 133-6 in their allotted 20 overs.

Scoreboard
Delhi
G Gambhir c Hussey b Akhtar 10
V Sehwag c Saha b Akhtar 0
AB de Villiers c Taibu b Akhtar 7
M Tiwary lbw b Akhtar 9
S Dhawan b Dinda 7
T Dilshan run out (Shukla) 25
A Mishra c Sharma b Shukla 31
F Maharoof run out (Dinda) 10
Yo Mahesh b Shukla 3
P Sangwan c Hussey b Shukla 0
G McGrath not out 0
Extras: 8 ( b:0 lb:1 nb:0 w:7)
Total: 110-10 (17.5) | Curr. RR: 6.17

FOW: V Sehwag (2-1, 0.2), G Gambhir (17-2, 2.4), AB de Villiers (28-3, 4.2), M Tiwary (28-4, 4.3), S Dhawan (43-5, 7.3), T Dilshan (67-6, 11.1), F Maharoof (101-7, 16), A Mishra (105-8, 17.2), P Sangwan (105-9, 17.3), Yo Mahesh (110-10, 17.5)

Kolkata
S Akhtar 3 0 11 4
I Sharma 3 0 18 0
A Dinda 4 0 29 1
S Ganguly 4 0 23 0
I Abdulla 3 0 22 0
L Shukla 0.5 0 6 3

Kolkata
S Butt c McGrath b Yo Mahesh 48
A Chopra c Maharoof b Sangwan 13
S Ganguly b Yo Mahesh 7
D Hussey c Tiwary b Maharoof 31
T Taibu run out (Dilshan) 7
L Shukla c Gambhir b Maharoof 10
P Saha not out 5
I Abdulla not out 1
Extras: 11 ( b:0 lb:3 nb:1 w:7)
Total: 133-6 (20) | Curr. RR: 6.65

FOW: A Chopra (35-1, 6), *S Ganguly (47-2, 6.5), S Butt (87-3, 13.1), T Taibu (99-4, 15.4), L Shukla (119-5, 18), D Hussey (129-6, 19.1)

Delhi
G McGrath 4 0 22 0
P Sangwan 4 0 29 1
Yo Mahesh 4 0 34 2
F Maharoof 4 0 25 2
A Mishra 3 0 13 0
V Sehwag 1 0 7 0

MAN OF THE MATCH: SHOAIB AKHTAR (KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS