Gujarat Lions took a strong and befitting revenge against Kolkata Knight Riders in the second and the last group stage contest between the two teams. Chasing a target of 188, the visitors handed KKR a defeat to register their second win in the tournament.
Suresh Raina shone for the team, as the skipper played a match winnings innings of 84 runs and also took the crucial wicket of Sunil Narine, who was looking a giant force at that time.
KKR would be an upset camp, as despite putting such a huge total on the board, the home side failed to safeguard it.
After being put out to bat first, once again the skipper Gautam Gambhir allowed Sunil Narine to open the innings with him. The gamble paid off, as Narine through his innings reminded us of the Mumbai Indians batting on Thursday.
He just came in and taught every bowler a lesson of life. The part-time opening batsman, which one could call him as stated with three fours in the first over of the game. The count rose to four in the next over. He churned out 14 runs in the third over of the game before getting dismissed off Raina in the fourth over of the game.
Narine played his part well, as he kicked off the evening show with a bang scoring 42 runs in just 17 balls at a strike rate of 247.05.
The aggression with which he kicked off the show was carried down by the middle order and there was a just short decline in the run rate. The home batsmen made perfect use of the conditions and plundered a total of 187/5 in the allotted overs. Despite that, the poor bowling line-up could not defend the total.
Here is what KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir said after the game –
“I thought we batted really well, bu they are a dangerous side. I thought the total was enough, especially with the attack we have, but the way Finchy and McCullum batted, they removed the entire pressure from the middle order. The wicket was still a bit sticky in the first innings, but Lions are a batting-heavy side. We still have a lot of positives to take from the match. We need to give credit to the opposition at times. It;s always that someone like Raina keeps getting runs, not against us, obviously. At the start of the tournament, we would have taken four out of six.”