IPL 2017: Twitter Reacts As Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik Power Lions To Huge Total Against Daredevils 1

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:

https://twitter.com/TheGujaratLions/status/860167506929098752