The Kolkata Knight Riders beat two opponents - the Deccan Chargers and a near-impossible batting wicket - tonight to firmly establish themselves as one of the early favourites to win the tournament.

Sourav Ganguly and his team held their nerve in the face of a deteriorating pitch, failing floodlights, and a spirited performance by the Hyderabad team to notch up their second successive win, in a bizarre, yet tense and thrilling match at the Eden Garden.

On a wicket that was a poor advertisement for T20 cricket, chasing even a 110 runs was always going to be tricky. The Chargers struck early, with Chaminda Vaas and R.P.Singh bowling intelligently and using the conditions well to get rid of danger man Bredon McCullum and Ricky Ponting for next to nothing. Wridhiman Saha followed soon after, and Eden Gardens was suddenly quiet.

However, Sourav Ganguly was not finished. With David Hussey, he steadied the ship with an innings that was of a far higher quality than it appeared to be. They negotiated the best that the Chargers attack had to offer with patience and skill, rebuilding the innings with a crucial 47 run partnership. Ganguly finally fell trying to force the pace, bowled by young Pragyan Ojha.

After the heroics from his brother Michael on Saturday, David Hussey decided that it was time for him to come to the IPL party. Helped along by a terrific cameo from Mohammed Hafeez, who hit Symonds for a huge six amidst mounting pressure, Hussey kept going, picking singles and hitting boundaries with regularity. Then Hafeez fell to an ambitious reverse sweep (how many batsmen has that shot claimed in tense situations?), and the momentum swung again.

And then the lights went out.

Players stood around, umpires conferred, coaches waved arms frantically, and Shah Rukh Khan and his contingent looked on nervously from the stands. It all made for great, stirring drama. The possibility of a Duckworth Lewis decision loomed large. Someone mentioned a bowl-out. Luckily, the lights came back on after a short while, and the game was thankfully resumed.

Almost as if the interruption had steadied his nerves, Hussey smashed Scott Styris, who had been outstanding up to that point, for a six and a four of successive deliveries to considerably ease the pressure. In the next over, it was all over when Hussey hoisted Ojha for a huge six, triggering celebrations in the stands.

Earlier, the Deccan Chargers won the toss and elected to bat. From the very first over from Ishant Sharma, the ball raised a puff of dust wherever it pitched. The odd ball kept low and the odd one took off - not the greatest of batting conditions. The Knight Riders kept the ball in the right places, took their catches and generally did fairly well to restrict the Chargers to 110. Only Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds - two of the best limited overs batsmen in the world - managed to get any measure of the pitch, which is an indication of just how difficult it was to bat..

At the end of the day, the Knight Riders proved that they could overcome any opposition and any conditions. They have won in perfect batting conditions in Bangalore, and on a demon of a wicket here tonight.

However, SRK and Ganguly will hope that the ground staff at Eden Gardens can save them the jangled nerves next time around, by providing a better pitch and reliable lights.

• Deccan  Chargers           http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/deccan_chargers
• Kolkata Knight Riders   http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/Kolkata_Knight_Riders
• Kings XI Punjab              http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/KingsXI_Punjab
• Rajastan Royals             http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Rajasthan_Royals