Lynn to play anchor role for KKR
CHANGING TACK Aussie batsman, back from injury, has toned down aggression to provide stability to the team BANGALORE:Facing In the past, we’d lose backtoback wickets. But tonight (Sunday) we didn’t do that. We retained momentum for the majority of the game.
RCB leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has been a challenge for most batsmen, especially on a helpful surface at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday.
However, KKR opener Chris Lynn, playing sweep shots, showed no concern as he made 62 not out to script victory for the twice champions over RCB.
“Early with the new ball, it was the easiest time to bat. You had Sunil (Narine) at the other end taking off the pressure. It was important to knock down a few before the rain break as it was expected to play a part. So, against a couple of quality spinners, the ball turning, you had to grind away. Wasn’t your typical T20 game with the ball flying around, and for me it was the sweep shots,” the Australian player said after the match.
KKR employed the strategy of On the win against Royal Challengers Bangalore
one batsman holding an end up and the other going hard at the bowlers. Lynn played anchor as Sunil Narine (27) first, and then Robin Uthappa (36), went after the bowling.
CHALLENGING WICKET “It (the wicket) was challenging. We have one bloke at one end anchoring the innings and then one at the other chipping in with quick runs. It was important for On his recovery
It hasn’t been as freeflowing as I would have liked. I am coming back after injuries, so I haven’t hit the ground running. Maybe my body didn’t allow that early on
Robbie to come and take pressure off with the spinners bowling. He is a class player. As I said, he scored a couple of boundaries to get the momentum back.
“In the past, we’d lose backto-back wickets. But tonight we didn’t do that. We retained momentum for the majority of the game.”
GETTING INTO RHYTHM
Lynn, who had just recovered from injury before IPL started, hasn’t been his usual ballistic self. The batsman said he is slowly working and getting into rhythm.
“It hasn’t been as free-flowing as I would have liked. I am coming back after a couple of injuries, so I haven’t really hit the ground running. Maybe my body didn’t allow that early on, but it is coming. I have started to find a bit of momentum, which is important, especially at the back-end of the tournament.
“On a night like tonight and a wicket like tonight, it was a bit challenging to get a strike rate of 200, so the more time I am going to spend in the middle, the quicker I am going to get that (flow) back. At the moment, I am happy to finish not out and get the team home because that was what was needed.”