Gautam Gambhir and Chris Lynn put on an opening partnership that will take some beating in IPL 2017, as the Kolkata Knight Riders thumped the Gujarat Lions in Rajkot on Friday.
Put into bat, the Gujarat Lions, courtesy a half-century from captain Suresh Raina and a nice innings from Dinesh Karthik, put on a decent score of 183, on an albeit flat wicket.
How flat that wicket, though, was really known when the KKR openers walked into bat, with Gambhir (76 n.o., 48b, 12x4) and Lynn (93 n.o., 41b, 6x4, 8x6) flaying the Gujarat Lions bowlers, without a single overseas player in the lineup, to all parts of the ground in a stunning, unbeaten partnership of 184 runs – the highest opening alliance ever for KKR, topping the previous one of 121 runs between Gambhir and Robin Uthappa in IPL 2014.
The chase was also remarkable because it was the highest ever chased down by any team without losing a single wicket in any match in the T20 format.
KKR surprised everyone by opening with Lynn alongside Gambhir and that plan could not have worked any better, with the two openers taking the game away from the Gujarat Lions.
Anything, anything even remotely on a good length or upwards was punished by Lynn, most of them for maximums, while Gambhir showed his class and experience by using his touch, especially against the spinners.
The duo added 73 runs in the Powerplay overs, which meant all KKR needed was 111 from the remaining 14 overs, and in T20 cricket, with all ten wickets in hand, that is easy peasy.
It became easier when Lynn, such a monster in the Big Bash League, but yet to really make an impact in the IPL – until now of course – smoked Dwayne Smith for six, four, six, six and one in over number seven to take KKR to within four runs of a hundred and add a half-century to his name, off a mere 19 balls.
Gambhir also joined Lynn in the half-century zone, with KKR then easing home.
The Gujarat Lions innings was at times pretty, at times lucky, with Raina the man to get most of that luck.
Keen to prove his appetite for the game still remains, after certain reports suggested his priority isn't cricket anymore, Raina came out at his favourite No.3 position and tried to take on the bowlers.
He might have ended up top scoring with 68 (51b, 7x4), but that score tells very little of the story of his innings. It was punctuated with mishit shot after mishit shot, with most of them either falling short of the fielders or landing on the grass via a drop.
Kuldeep Yadav and Yusuf Pathan both gave Raina a life during his innings, and it seems like the dropping of catches is turning into an incurable disease in IPL 2017, considering the amount of grassed chances already in the first three games.
While Raina was lucky, the rest of the Gujarat Lions batting lineup – they played all four of their openers – was about using the power and the finesse.
Jason Roy opened the innings with Brendon McCullum, and the two got off to a decent start. While Roy (14, 12b, 3x4), making his IPL debut, fell to Piyush Chawla, top-edging a pull shot, McCullum continued the assault, smashing a couple of really nice sixes.
The plan for the Gujarat Lions, who went with six batsmen and the wicketkeeper Karthik, and five specialist bowlers, was clear – go hard from ball one and don't worry too much about losing your wicket.
Once McCullum (35, 24b, 4x4, 2x6) was trapped in front by Kuldeep, the standout bowler of the match, Aaron Finch (15, 8b, 2x6) came and hit a couple of sixes, before the defining partnership of the innings – 87 in 9.3 overs – came to the fore.
Karthik walked in to give his captain great company, and while Raina still looked rusty, despite getting past the half-century, the former, who has scored bucketloads of runs in domestic cricket this year, was anything but.
After taking his time initially, Karthik brought out his array of shots – all quite pleasing to the eye – to give GL the impetus they needed in the final overs and get them to a solid score, even if that score proved to be well short of what was needed as Lynn and Gambhir went crazy.
Watch the highlights of the match HERE
Scores:
Gujarat Lions: 183/4 in 20 overs.
KKR: 184/0 in 14.5 overs.
Result: KKR won by ten wickets with 31 balls to spare.
Bowling: KKR: Trent Boult 4-0-40-1; Piyush Chawla 4-0-33-1; Sunil Narine 4-0-33-0; Chris Woakes 3-0-35-0; Kuldeep Yadav 4-0-25-2; Yusuf Pathan 1-0-15-0.
Gujarat Lions: Praveen Kumar 2-0-13-0; Dhawal Kulkarni 2.5-0-42-0; Manpreet Gony 2-0-32-0; Shivil Kaushik 4-0-40-0; Dwayne Smith 1-0-23-0; Shadab Jakati 3-0-30-0.
Fall of wickets: Gujarat Lions: 22/1, Jason Roy (3.1 overs); 72/2, Brendon McCullum (8.1 overs); 92/3, Aaron Finch (10.2 overs); 179/4, Dinesh Karthik (19.5 overs).
