Gambhir and Umesh star in KKR's 8-wicket win over Punjab

Photo: BCCI

New Delhi: Gautam Gambhir’s half-century and Umnesh Yadav’s four-for took Kolkata Knight Riders to the top of the table as the two time champions overwhelmed Kings Punjab by 8 wickets in an IPL match in Kolkata.

Gautam Gambhir batted through to remain unbeaten on 72 off 49 balls as Kinght Riders reached the target of 171 with 21 balls to spare.

It was a clinical display of batsmanship from the KKR captain Gambhir, who took the charge of the chase right from the onset. His move to promote Sunil Narine to open with him paid dividends. The duo put on a 76 run opening stand off just 34 balls.   

Gambhir hit 11 fours and displayed incredible timing. He was particularly severe against Punjab’s most potent new ball bowler Sandeep Sharma. 

In the absence of injured Chris Lynn, Kinght Riders gambled with Sunil Narine by sending him to start off the innings with Gambhir. The West Indian off-spinner had opened the innings thrice in the Big Bash league. He showed no nerves in his innings of 37 in which he hit 3 massive sixes and 4 fours. Narine’s heroics gave Kinght Riders a head start and a rattled Punjab had no answers. 

After Narine had done his job, Uthappa (26) and Manish Pandey (25) also chipped in with valuable contributions in front of a hapless Punjab bowling attack.

Earlier, opting to bowl first, Knight Riders managed to restrict a strong Punjab batting line up to 170 thanks to a brilliant return from Umesh Yadav, who took 3 wickets in one over to change the complexion of the match in KKR’s favour. Umesh took 4 wickets for 33 runs.

Before Sunil Narine displayed his abilities with the bat he had more than done his job with the ball by bowling an economical spell. He picked up 1 wicket and gave away only 19 runs.