Knights keep Lions on leash

Hyderabad: Gautam Gambhir played a captain’s knock to lead Kolkata Knight Riders to a four-wicket victory over Lahore Lions to put his side on top of Group ‘A’ in the Oppo Champions League Twenty20 on Sunday night. Chasing a modest 151, KKR cranked it up through Gambhir and Robin Uthappa, who put on an opening stand of 100 in 12.3 overs to take the game away. Gambhir smashed eight boundaries in his 47-ball 60 while Uthappa blasted four boundaries and two sixes before falling four short of his half-century.

The Lions were silent for most part of the KKR innings and roared a bit towards the end by claiming six wickets to take the match to the final over before being subdued by the Knights.Earlier, mystery spinner Sunil Narine tied the Lahore Lions in knots but a fluent yet fortuitous half-century by opener Ahmed Shehzad coupled with a late charge by Umar Akmal lifted them to a decent total.

Shehzad slammed 59, Akmal annexed 40 while Narine returned with astonishing figures of 4-1-9-3 to leave the crowd gaping.The Lions began well, lost their way and then came back through a 48-run stand for the seventh wicket between Akmal and Wahab Riaz towards the end of their innings. KKR were poor in the outfield though with wicketkeeper Manvinder Bisla especially having a bad game.

Shehzad started shakily, struggling to negotiate Pat Cummins’s pace. He had his share of luck too, surviving a certain stumping chance while on 19. Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla had drawn him down the pitch with a teaser that beat him square but a fumbling Bisla failed to collect the ball with the batsman way out of his crease. Lahore were 29 for no loss in the fourth over then.

Bisla bungled yet again, to let Shehzad off the hook off left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav this time.It took the athletic brilliance of Andre Russell for KKR to snatch the first wicket, a run out. Picking the ball on the move at mid-wicket, the West Indian broke the stumps with a direct throw that caught Nasir Jamshed short of his crease.The Lions crawled though, to score only 32 runs between the fifth and 10th overs as their team total read 71 for 1 at the half-way stage.

Soon, captain Hafeez fell, trying to force the pace. Russell had a hand in this dismissal too, pouching the skier off Kuldeep Yadav. Meanwhile, Shehzad celebrated the milestone with an effortless, well-connected six, the fourth of his knock, over fine leg off mediumpacer Russell. He did not last though, falling finally as he unsuccessfully tried to hoist Chawla over long-on that was manned by Robin Uthappa.