Aussie journeyman achieves knighthood in shining armour
NEWDELHI: Chris Lynn came to the Indian Premier League with the reputation of a powerful striker but his first lasting memory was a blinder of a catch he had taken in the 2014 edition, in Sharjah. Lining himself to take a catch off AB de Villiers, Lynn had slipped but still managed to stretch back and complete it.
Lynn has been bit of a journeyman in the shortest format, playing for Jamaica Tallawahs, Guyana Amazon Warriors, Kandurata Warriors and Brisbane Heat.
In India, he spent a very brief and barren stint with Deccan Chargers and Sunrisers Hyderabad before finally being bought by Kolkata Knight Riders in 2014.
Before Friday’s blitzkreig, Lynn had only totalled 89 runs in five matches in his IPL career. From now on however, Lynn will carry the tag of a belligerent opener as well as finisher due to a 41-ball 93 that propelled Kolkata Knight Riders to one of their easiest wins in IPL history.
Even opening the batting was relatively new to the Queenslander, this being the third time in 87 T20s that he has done it.
But Gautam Gambhir was vindicated by his decision to not go with his long-time partner Robin Uthappa. Along with Gambhir, Lynn tormented the Gujarat Lions bowling attack to pile up 73 runs in the Powerplay overs, breaking the side’s previous best of 68.
While Gambhir paced his innings well, Lynn was devastating from the other end. He started the carnage with a boundary against Pravin Kumar in the first over before hitting Dhawal Kulkarni for a gigantic six in the second.
He then upped the ante in the next over by picking up 12 against Manpreet Gony, including a six that went almost 20 rows behind in the stands.
LUSTY BLOWS
However, his best was reserved for Dwayne Smith who he welcomed in the seventh over with a six over long-on before picking up two more over-boundaries and a four in the very over. A single off the last ball brought up his fifty.
Gujarat Lions looked ordinary without Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo but it didn’t take anything away from Lynn’s knock which only got more brutal with time. He hit eight sixes in the match but that again bread and butter for Lynn.
Earlier in the year, Lynn had a 49-ball 98 for Brisbane Heat in their Big Bash match against Perth Scorchers. He had hit 11 sixes in that match, finishing the Big Bash with 26 sixes, more than any other team had hit. Besides being named ‘King of the Six’ back in Australia, Chris Lynn is an extremely generous man. Last IPL, he was carrying five fantastic cricket bats. All had identical features -- nice balance, wonderful pickup and a feel to die for. To me they looked like five indistinguishable monsters. Most batsmen are extremely possessive about their bats. Lynn is no different.
On the other hand, I have this bad habit of pinching bats from my team-mates. Some of my colleagues in the Indian dressingroom hate me for this. Undeterred, I decided Lynn was to be my next ‘victim’. One day when the Queenslander had lowered his guard, I ‘attacked’ and got that willow.
LYNN’S HITTING
On Friday night against Gujarat Lions, it was Lynn on a double act. From one end, he and his bat were firing, and from the other, once again his bat and me were trying to catch up; a catch up which I am proud of. It is for games like these that I strongly feel umpires need mandatory helmets. Lynn was not only hitting hard but hitting straight. I am told he is nicknamed ‘Lynnsanity’ and hopefully by the end of this IPL he’d have that name in a bolder and bigger font.
To open with him was not a knee-jerk decision. In Kolkata, we played three practice games and in almost all of them he fired. In one game he scored 80 off 36 balls. KKR CEO Venky Mysore gave him Man of the Match.
Lynn’s efforts may seem heroic but he keeps it really simple. I asked him once how he does what he does and he said, ‘Skip, I find it easier to hit the ball in the air rather than directing it through fielders.” His strategy is as docile as that. Apart from that, he practices hitting these booming strokes a lot. Next time there is a practice session at the Eden Gardens you must drop by to watch his method. I think entry