Gayle powers KXIP after Lynn topscores for Knight Riders
NRR* ON SONG Jamaican was on course for a third matchwinning knock when rain halted play at Eden
For latest in sports, go to www.hindustantimes.com/ sport-news 3 1 6 0.878 3 2 6 0.825 3 1 6 0.414 3 1 6 0.277 2 3 4 -1.043 1 3 2 0.445 1 3 2 -0.861 1 3 2 -1.399 *after CSK v RR match The Eden seemed too small for the Universe Boss and with KL Rahul joining in, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) made the monumental look midget-like here on Saturday.
When rain stopped play at 6:41pm, KXIP, chasing what seemed a formidable target of 192, were 96/0, 31 ahead of the DLS par score. It was that easy.
Chris Gayle was batting on 49 (27 balls, 5x4, 4x6) and Rahul was on 46 (23 balls; 7x4, 1x6), both sending Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for cover metaphorically before a sharp nor’wester took the teams in. Even though they got maybe some 10 runs short, KKR would have backed themselves to defend the effort that had Chris Lynn getting to his first IPL 11 50 before top-scoring with 74. Robin Uthappa made 34 and skipper Dinesh Karthik a crisp 28-ball 43 that had six fours with some delicate shots past third man. Rahul started with two boundaries off Shivam Mavi, the first streaky, the second sublime. He did that again off the first two balls off Andre Russell’s over, negating the swing to hit through cover before putting one past third man. Gayle hadn’t even joined the party and it was in full swing.
Gayle’s first boundary came off Russell and was all about timing, bisecting cover and point. Mavi squared him up thrice but his second over, the innings’ third, yielded 17 after the first and second had fetched nine and 13 respectively because Gayle managed to swing one over extra-cover before Rahul pulled him for six.
Sunil Narine put the brakes on, temporarily as it turned out, in the fifth over but KXIP finished the power play on 73/0. On Friday, KKR bowling coach Heath Streak had
Bowling: A Rajpoot 3-0-32-0, M Rahman 4-0-32-1, B Sran 4-0-50-2, A Tye 4-0-30-2, R Ashwin 4-0-33-1, Y Singh 1-0-13-0
KOLKATA:
46 (23) 49 (27) 1 96