KKR tame Lions

Hyderabad: It was a super duper performance by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), which put an end to the pretensions of Lahore Lions in the seventh match of the ongoing Oppo Champions League T20-2-014 at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium (RGICS) here on Sunday.

Playing before a sellout holiday crowd, Gautam Gambhir at long last rediscovered the touch of the early days while leading from the front and steering the team to a four-wicket win in the Group ‘A’ encounter.

His individual contribution was a well-struck 60 runs from 47-balls that contained eight fours. The more aggressive opener Robin Uthappa came up with a stroke-filled 46 from 34 balls. Together they put on 100 runs for the first wicket in 12.2 overs to virtually take the match away from the Lions. Incidentally, this is best opening partnership of this edition.

Although, wickets fell in quick succession after they both returned to the pavilion, KKR still managed to stay in control of the proceedings, largely because of not too impressive bowling.

Earlier, Lions opener Ahmed Shehzad (59) gave a flying start with his swashbuckling innings that was a consolidation of the ‘lives’ he got, thanks to some shoddy fielding and the myriad lapses that were virtual gifts to Lahore batsmen. Despite a menacing spell by mystery bowler, Sunil Narine (3/9), Umar Akmal was in his elements that saw him take the team to a respectable 161 for seven wickets. Akmal singled out spinner Piyush Chawla for special treatment while clobbering him for 16 runs in the team’s 17th over.

Brief scores: Lahore Lions: 151 for 7 (Ahmed Shehzad 59, Umar Akmal 40; Sunil Narine 3/9) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 153 for six in 19.3 overs (Gautam Gambhir 60, Robin Uthappa 46, Aizaj Cheema 2/42)