Travis Head came to the crease when Royal Challengers Bangalore were reeling at 34 for 3 in the fifth over with their holy trinity- Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers- already back in the hut against Kolkata Knight Riders. The onus was on Head and Mandeep Singh to steer the side to a good total and they did it. The duo added 71 runs for the fourth wicket before Mandeep was dismissed for 52.
But the Australian batsman remained not out and scored 75 off 47 deliveries to guide his team to a respectable 158 for 6 in the allotted 20 overs. It was Head’s maiden Indian Premier League fifty and the southpaw would have hoped for a good show from the bowlers to make the occasion memorable. However, what happened thereafter not only left Head disappointed and shell-shocked but also everyone present at the M Chinnaswamy stadium as Kolkata’s opening combination of Sunil Narine and Chris Gayle wreaked havoc.
Narine and Lynn completed their fifties in 15 and 21 balls respectively as the visitors became only the second team after Chennai Super Kings to score 100 runs in the powerplay. The visitors chased down the target of 159 in a jiffy with 4 overs remaining.
The win over the Royal Challengers was Kolkata’s eighth of the season and has put them in a good position for the play-offs berth with 16 points from 12 matches. On the other hand, the runners-up of last year are languishing at the bottom of the table after suffering their tenth defeat of the season.
Speaking after the match, Head said that all the top four teams in the tournament have a well-balanced side and the team which can take their game to another level will lift the trophy.
“All the top four teams in contention have good batsmen and bowlers. It is going to be tough, the playoffs and the finals. They are all aggressive sides boasting match-winning players. They are coming out to blast their way. So, whoever steps up their game in the Playoffs and finals will lift the trophy this year,” Head said at the post-match press conference.
Speaking about his compatriot Lynn, who was returning from a long injury layoff, Head said:“He is an unbelievable hitter of the ball. He had done that in the Big Bash for a couple of years. Probably, he is one of the better hitters in IPL competition.We got 158 runs on the board and it was on us to take advantage of it, but they put us out of the contest by getting 105 runs in six or seven overs.”
“It was disappointing tonight, for we lost the match even after setting 158 runs, a challenging total. Even more disappointing was the team did get any momentum throughout the tournament,” he added.
Knight Riders’ leg-spinner Piyush Chawla also heaped praise on Lynn’s hard-hitting abilities abilities before admitting that Narine and Lynn had put the game beyond Royal Challengers’ reach in the first six overs.
“Well to be honest, I have never seen anybody else hitting as hard as Lynn. I think Lynny and Sunil, the way they batted, they took the game away from RCB in the first six overs itself,” Chawla said.
“The best part about their batting was that were playing only cricketing shots. If you see the whole six overs, they didn’t play any cross-batted shots or anything. They were just playing on the merit of the ball and were looking to clear the infield,” he added.