The Gujarat Lions desperately needed a win to gather back their momentum and fortunately for them, they found themselves on the winning side after beating the Kolkata Knight Riders. It was an optimal performance from the Lions, who were charged up by a fine opening burst from swing bowler Praveen Kumar. Kumar displayed the glimpses of his good old self as he swung the ball viciously to topple the Knight Riders’ top order.
It needed a heroic stand between Shakib Al Hasan and Yusuf Pathan to rescue the Knight Riders, but all they could manage was just 158. The Lions were always in the hunt with wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik scoring a rapid half-century to guide his team through. Aaron Finch’s cameo down the order pretty much sealed up the game.
In the post-match presentation, Lions skipper Suresh Raina credited his bowlers for the win. “It was a very crucial game. Games in Kolkata are always special. Credit goes to our bowlers, they took those crucial wickets and again Baz and Smith gave us a good partnership. When you have too many options, you get confused. You always back your best bowler to bowl in the final overs. When Yusuf was batting, I thought I will give one over to Shivil and then to Tambe. I got a bit confused. DK and PK, they really bowl well in the death overs,” said a jubilant Raina.
Raina also justified the logic behind using Aaron Finch in the middle order. “Bravo is our best death bowler and he has done really well. But with the way Yusuf and Shakib were going, it’s always going to be tough. I think KKR is a very difficult team to beat and the way things have gone today, I’m very happy with the team tonight. When Finch is there in the middle, you always have a license in that 7-8 overs and that’s what I said to the coach. Sending him down the order really paid off,” Raina said.