IPL 9 GL vs KKR: Gujarat Lions outplay KKR
Needing 159 to win, the Suresh Raina-led outfit never looked out of the depth as they zoomed to victory with two overs to spare
Kolkata: Dinesh Karthik and Aaron Finch came up with the goods when it mattered to fire Gujarat Lions to a five-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in their IPL-9 clash at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.
Needing 159 to win, the Suresh Raina-led outfit never looked out of the depth as they zoomed to victory with two overs to spare. After a good opening that saw Gujarat put up 116/3 in 13.3 overs, Karthik (51, 29b, 8x4, 1x6) and Finch (29, 10b, 3x4, 2x6) flexed their muscles to fire their side to victory.
Earlier, Yusuf Pathan and Shakib Al Hasan hit fighting fifties in a record partnership to lift Kolkata to a competitive 158 for four after a disastrous start.
KKR were Stuttering at 24 for 4 inside the Powerplay overs with a splendid seam bowling display by Praveen Kumar (2/19) and Dhawal Kulkarni (1/3), but Pathan and Shakib put on a record unbroken partnership of 134 runs to stage a remarkable recovery.
It was highest fifth-wicket stand in IPL history. Shakib struck a 49-ball 66 with four sixes and as many fours while Pathan came up with a 41-ball 63 that had seven shots to fence and one over the ropes.
On a day when their successful opening duo of Robin Uthappa (14) and Gautam Gambhir (5) failed, Pathan and Shakib came to team's rescue as the Gujarat Lions failed to make any further inroad.
Praveen took two wickets in three balls to reduce KKR to 15/2 in the third over before Dhawal Kularni made it 21/3 in the next over. Praveen had a dream start and also bowled a maiden for a fine spell of 3-1-7-2.
In the next over, Yadav tried to break free to guide the ball over Raina at the slip but the the left-handed skipper took a stunning catch jumping high in the air and plucked the ball with his right hand to make it four-down for the Knights inside the Powerplay.
KKR almost suffered a fifth dismissal on 32/4 but Pravin Tambe dropped Shakib, then on three, at third man boundary. Lions introduced spin in the 10th over bringing in Shivil Kaushik and things started to look bright with Pathan taking charge against the chinaman bowler with a smack over his head for a six and followed it up with a boundary. With Pathan taking charge, Shakib did well to rotate the strike as the duo scripted an amazing recovery and Raina's spin trio of Shivil, Pravin Tambe and Ravindra Jadeja failed to give any breakthrough.
Pathan, who had scored a match-winning 60 not out from 29 balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore, completed his half-century in 31 balls.