IPL 2017 | Vintage Raina condemns KKR to second home defeat
BCCI
Suresh Raina guided Gujarat Lions to victory against Kolkata Knight Riders by 4 wickets - only their second of the current IPL season. Chasing a score of 188, the Lions got off to a flyer scoring 62 off five overs but it was their captain whose 84 off 46 balls secured the victory for the Lions.
Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 187/5 (Robin Uthappa 72, Sunil Narine 42; Suresh Raina 1/11, Praveen Kumar 1/24) lost to Gujarat Lions 188/6 (Suresh Raina 84, Brendon McCullum 33; Nathan Coulter-Nile 2/20, Kuldeep Yadav 2/33) by 4 wickets.
Gujarat Lions, who made a couple of changes opting to start with James Faulkner and Praveen Kumar instead of
Narine leads the way for KKR yet again
With Gujarat struggling to pick up wickets, just 15 in 5 games, Gautam Gambhir chose Sunil Narine as his opening partner and it was a decision that would reap instant rewards. The Trinidadian started off by smashing Praveen Kumar for three boundaries in the first over. He then went one better in the next over and followed that up with 14 off Basil Thampi. Even though he was dismissed in the fourth over, KKR had already raced to 47 off just four overs with the 28-year-old contributing 42 in just 17 balls. Following the wicket, KKR took their foot off the pedal with the next four overs yielding just 30 runs. But having adjusted to the pace of the wicket, both Gambhir and Robin Uthappa started taking more risks, cruising the home side to 96 at the midway point.
Thampi and co. restrict KKR to a par score
The visitors fought back with the wicket of Gambhir, who top-edged a Faulkner ball high into the sky, providing Raina ample time to position himself and take a disciplined catch. After this loss, KKR further slowed down their pace, barely hitting six runs an over. With the run rate now dropping below 9.5 for the first time in the game, Uthappa began showcasing his shot making abilities, bringing up his fifty and taking KKR past 140 with five overs to play. But a Faulkner over that yielded just five runs put the pressure back on the home side as they started smacking their bats with no plot in mind. After Kulkarni dismissed Uthappa in the 19th over, it was Thampi who sent another couple of batsmen packing in the last over to restrict the home side to 187 - a target that appeared to be par on the batting surface that Eden Gardens had to offer, but still far short of where KKR could have arrived given their start.
Openers put Gujarat in control
Brendon McCullum made his intent clear right from the off, smashing two boundaries in the very first over, but it was Aaron Finch who really took the attack to the home side. The Aussie scored 30 off the 31 runs in the next two overs to set Gujarat on their way. In the next over, however, while attempting a pull shot, Finch skied a Coulter-Nile ball right down the throat of Manish Pandey at deep square leg. McCullum, though, smashed the Aussie pacer for 14 runs off the next three balls to take the score past fifty in just 4 overs. An over later, rain tried to play spoilsport as the game was delayed for more than a quarter of an hour. After the break, however, KKR gained a foothold in the game by dismissing the Kiwi and Dinesh Karthik off successive deliveries. Suresh Raina, meanwhile, stayed put and ensured the visitors reached the midway point with a comfortable score of 99/3.
Captain Raina secures the victory
The Gujarat captain was doing his part scoring a boundary every over to keep the run rate in check, but he was losing support at the other end with Ishan Kishan and Dwayne Smith falling cheaply. Raina then started showing glimpses of years gone by, smashing everything in his path past the ropes as he brought up his fifty in the on the last ball of the 14th over. With the required run rate approaching double digits, Raina started to accelerate as he hit Umesh Yadav for 13 runs before dispatching Coulter-Nile for 16 a couple of overs later to make the result a formality. Unfortunately for the Gujarat captain, he was unable to see out the game as he was dismissed for 84 in the 18th over. But Faulkner and Jadeja saw the game out to take Gujarat off the bottom place on the table.
