Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Gautam Gambhir’s gamble to deploy Sunil Narine in the opening slot worked successfully yet another time in game number 23 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 10 against the Gujarat Lions (GL). Suresh Raina won the toss and invited Kolkata to bat first. The opening pair of Gambhir and Narine brutally charged the Gujarat bowlers right from the beginning and 44 runs were scored in the first 3 overs.
Narine was seen in a different avatar today. He smashed a mighty 42 in 17 balls while the opening pair added 45 runs in just 3.2 overs. After all regular ballers failed to take wickets by then, Gujarat skipper himself came into the attack and dismissed the dangerous looking Narine after tried for a pull shot but couldn’t time it perfectly and was caught by James Faulkner at mid-on.
Robin Uthappa came in at number 3 to accompany the KKR skipper and both added a total of 69 runs for the 2nd wicket before Kolkata faced another loss in the form of Gautam Gambhir. James Faulkner sent him back to the pavilion at 33 of 28 balls.
Uthappa took the charge to score from that point of time along with another in-form batsman Manish Pandey who came in at number 4. Uthappa again played a classic knock for his team and scored his second half-century in the current season of IPL. After hitting 2 sixes and 8 fours, Robin Uthappa scored a heroic 72 off 48 before Pravin Kumar took his wicket in the 19th over.
After Uthappa’s dismissal, Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan carried the innings forward and managed to add 15 runs for the fourth wicket but in the last over, KKR had another two blows and by the end in the form of Manish Pandey and Surya Kumar Yadav, KKR put a total of 187 runs on the scoreboard.
