New Delhi: Suresh Raina played a captain’s inning as Gujarat Lions finally returned to winning ways by conquering Kolkata Knight Riders’ fortress by 4 wickets.
Raina was at the top of his game and made sure Gujarat reached home safely even as he faltered to finish off the game. He scored 84 off 46 balls.
Chasing 188, Gujarat got off to an ideal start from their openers McCullum and Finch. Opening the innings for the first time in this season, Finch dashed Knight Riders’ strategy of starting off with spin from both ends. The Australian opening batsman hit Narine for 15 runs in the second over of the innings. He was stopped in his tracks Nathan Coulter Nile on 31 off 15.
The Knight Riders did manage to crawl back in the game after the rain break. The double strike of McCullum (33) and Karthik (3) pegged Gujarat back. Raina then dropped anchor to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Wickets kept tumbling at the other end but Raina made sure the asking rate never went out of reach. He hit 4 sixes and 9 fours in his innings. At one stage the match evened out when Gujarat lost half their side for 122 with still needing 66 off 44 balls.
Jadeja joined hands with Raina to put on a match defining 58 run stand.
Gambhir’s tactics of holding Umesh Yadav back did seemed to work when the Indian fast bowler castled Smith in his very first over but the damage was already done.
Earlier, Kolkata put on a challenging total thanks to a brilliant half century by Robin Uthappa and whirlwind innings at the top by Sunil Narine.
Gujarat now have got some emphasis back on their dismal outing by registering their second win in 6 matches.