Kolkata: Dinesh Karthik led the way with a fluent
half-century as Gujarat Lions snapped their three-match losing streak to reclaim
the top spot with a comfortable five-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in
an IPL T20 cricket match, here on Sunday.
Chasing 159 on a slow Eden surface, the duo of Dwayne
Smith (27) and Brendon McCullum (29) handed Lions a perfect launchpad with 42
from 5.3 overs.
The duo fell in space of 15 runs when Shakib Al Hasan
and Piyush Chawala took one each but it was sheer elegance from wicketkeeper
batsman Karthik who scored a 29-ball 51 that had eight fours and a six to set
up the chase. After Karthik was stumped, Aaron Finch's hit 29 from 10
ballsbefore being run out. Ravindra Jadeja sealed the chase with two overs to
spare as he launched a six over long-on.
Kolkata Knight Riders were Stuttering at 24 for four
inside the Powerplay overs with a splendid seam bowling display by Praveen
Kumar and Dhawal Kulkarni but Pathan and Shakib put on a record unbroken
partnership of 134 runs to stage a remarkable recovery.
72 runs were needed from 60 balls when a
dangerous-looking McCullum, having struck two sixes and one boundary in the
previous over, fell to Chawla as Kolkata Knight Riders were attacking full
force with their spin trio.
But Karthik was unfazed and found himself in the zone
starting off with three classy boundaries against Brad Hogg. Raina on the other
hand looked ordinary before getting dismissed to another short ball when he was
caught by Hogg but it did not matter as Aaron Finch (29 off ten) did the jiob
smartly before being run out.
McCullum found himself lucky to be adjudged not out
when he took an outside edge from Andre Russell in the first over but he
survived to open his account and give their chase the fillip with equally
devastating Dwayne Smith.
On a day when their successful opening duo of Robin
Uthappa (14) and Gautam Gambhir (five) failed, Pathan and Shakib came to team's
rescue as the Gujarat Lions failed to make any further inroad.
Lions had bolstered their spin line-up by bringing
leg-spinner Pravin Tambe to bowl alongside Ravindra Jadeja and Shivil Kaushik
but the trio failed to make any impact on the Eden wicket.
In the next over, Yadav tried to break free to guide
the ball over Raina at the slip but the the left-handed skipper took a stunning
catch jumping high in the air and plucked the ball with his right hand to make
it four-down for the Knights inside the Powerplay.
Gujarat Lions now stands at the top spot with 14 points,
while Kolkata Knight Riders stands at the second spot. Along with Sunrisers
Hyderabad with 12 points.
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