Saurav Ganguly rolled back the years and produced a piece of magic on the field which turned the match on its head and Kolkata Knight Riders staged a dramatic comeback to beat Delhi Dare Devils by 14 runs in the DLF IPL3 match at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday.

The second wicket pair of Virender Shewag and Gautham Gambir had added 99 runs and was steadily chipping at the target (182) set by Kolkata when Ganguly ran out Gambir with a direct hit from mid-on. The batsmen had smashed the two previous deliveries of Dinda to the fence and his drive off the third was intercepted by Ganguly whose throw was bang on target. Dinda started the proceeding for Kolkata with a bang. The medium pacer reduced Warner strokeless for four balls and then beat him with pace and had his stumps rearranged in the first over. But Gambhir and Shewag with their quality batting threatened to take the match away from the home-side. After Gambir’s dismissal, Ajantha Mendis - making a sort of comeback into the squad - prised out Collingwood cheaply and the put skids on Delhi’s charge.

However, Shewag, who survived a caught behind appeal early in the innings, was in murderous mood and had treated the bowlers with disdain. But the batsman paid the price for impetuosity as after flaying Agarkar for a boundary, Shewag backed away to play the big drive through the off-side but was beaten when the ball swung in late and crammed him for room and he only managed chop it on to the stumps. Kolkata slow bowlers were steady and choked the flow of runs. Ganguly took another smart catch to dismiss Jadhav off Mendis. Young Iqbal Abdulla joined the party by castling Marahoof and ran out Bhatia. Dinda came back to end Karthik’s resistance as the batsman’s attempted pull ended in McCullum’s safe hands. With 30 needed off 10 balls, the Delhi’s chase fizzled out.

The former Indian captain had earlier shown his merit with the bat by scoring 50 and added 100 runs with Gayle. But Kolkata after a great start faced a mini collapse as it lost three quick wickets cheaply. Rajat Bhatia took the pace off the ball and had Gayle connecting thin air as the ball crashed on to the stumps. Ganguly who won the first round of his duel with Vettori was castled by a slower ball from the spinner. McCullum was run out. It took an enterprising stand from Mathews and Tiwary to lead the Kolkata recovery. Mathews, who survived a dropped chance on 10, played some powerful shots on the off side. Tiwary also joined the fun and the duo took 18 runs off Mishra’s final over. Their unbroken fourth wicket partnership of 70 runs from 6.5 overs was a crucial one under the circumstances.