IPL 2017: Twitter Reacts As Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik Power Lions To Huge Total Against Daredevils
May 4, 2017 at 9:58 PM
Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik scored whirlwind fifties and added 133 runs for the third wicket, helping Gujarat Lions recover from a disastrous start to post a massive 208 for 8 against Delhi Daredevils at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi.
The table-toppers of last season were in a precarious position when Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith were dismissed on consecutive deliveries in the second over. The Gujarat-based outfit would have been in further trouble had Shreyas Nair missed a sitter to send back Suresh Raina on the last ball of that very over. One of the most successful batsmen in the history of the Indian Premier League, Raina fully capitalised on the reprieve and made his intentions clear in the fourth over of the innings when he hit Mohammed Shami for a couple of fours and a six.
The southpaw unleashed an array of big shots and was well complimented by Dinesh Karthik from the other end. Raina was the aggressive of the two when the partnership started while Karthik was looking content to rotate the strike and hitting the occasional boundaries. But the wicketkeeper-batsman hit the top gear once he had his eyes set and matched his partner shot for shot.
Raina completed his fifty 32 deliveries while Karthik took only 28 deliveries to score his 14th IPL fifty. The 133-run stand finally came to an end when Raina was run-out for 77. 15 runs later, Karthik departed too after scoring 65 off just 34 balls courtesy off a stunning catch by Corey Anderson. Aaron Finch and Ravindra Jadeja then played handy knocks to steer the Lions to a huge total.
Here is how Twitter reacted to the innings:
Enjoying watching @DineshKarthik bat. He shows us these innings from time to time and you wish there were more
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 4, 2017
https://twitter.com/TheGujaratLions/status/860167506929098752
Brilliant. Just brilliant from @coreyanderson78. The confidence and the timing of the jump……wow
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 4, 2017
Stupendous catch by Corey Anderson. Bionic stuff!
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) May 4, 2017
Perfect example of what dropped catches & sloppy fielding can do to you & Gujarat Lions taking full advantage of it! #eit20 @SonySIX #DDvGL
— Rameez (@Rxmeeeez) May 4, 2017
https://twitter.com/TrentWoodhill/status/860159794493116416
This partnership between Raina and Karthik is the highest for GL, going past 112 between McCullum and Smith last year. #DDvGL
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) May 4, 2017
Is this the reason why DD drops their previous game Man of the match? 😛 So that they don't perform this bad. 😀
— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) May 4, 2017
Delhi batsmen should be mentally steeling themselves to chase 200+: their bowlers are being taken to the cleaners by Raina & Karthik
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) May 4, 2017
They will keep dropping sitters till #IPL finds a sponsor for "Halwa" catch of the match.
— cricBC (@cricBC) May 4, 2017
Has Morris left or was he rested or dropped for performing #DDvGL
— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) May 4, 2017