CHENNAI: Chennai haven’t heard of him before, but they will remember Debabrata Das now. The Bengal boy came out to bat with 16 to get off 11 balls and with 25,000 fans shouting hoarse for Chennai, the pressure was immense. But Das (11 off 4 balls) sent the first ball he faced off Dwayne Bravo to the fence, got a couple more in the next and left it to Yusuf Pathan.

Pathan messed up yet again but Das’ nerves of steel in the last over sealed it as he hit one over the top off R Ashwin’s fourth ball of the last over to seal Kolkata’s first win at the Chepauk in five years.

If Das was the last-over hero, the platform was laid by skipper Gautam Gambhir who raided Captain Cool’s territory in style. His 63 off 52 balls on a difficult track was the cornerstone of a victory that has taken Shah Rukh’s boys closer to the semifinals berth and left Chennai precariously placed with nine points in 10 games.

Gambhir batted with a lot of authority, didn’t miss out on the singles, found the gaps and kept the scoreboard ticking even as the pressure rose. His dismissal in the 19th over could have made it tough for Kolkata but Das showed the gumption to take the team home.

Earlier, when Chennai batted, 47 balls without a boundary between the ninth and 17th overs told the story of the day. They could never generate the momentum which is so important to get an innings going in T20 cricket; it became all the more difficult with the Kolkata spinners coming to party on a sluggish track.

The struggles against mystery spinner Sunil Narine continued as the Chennai batsmen failed to read which way it was going to turn. The likes of Dhoni, Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja and Morkel all struggled against him.