Rajkot: Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders cantered to a 10-wicket win over Gujarat Lions in their opening match of the the Indian Premier League, here today. Chasing a challenging 184 for win, Chris Lynn (93 not out) and skipper Gautam Gambhir (76 not out) put on unbeaten 184 runs for the opening wicket to cruise to the victory. Lynn consumed just 41 balls and struck six boundaries and as many as eight sixes during his fiery knock.
Gambhir, on the other hand, was at his subtle best and scored his runs off 48 deliveries with the help of 12 fours. While Lynn was at his aggressive best, Gambhir played the second fiddle initially in the match-winning partnership. Earlier, captain Suresh Raina led from the front with an unbeaten 68 to propel Gujarat Lions to a challenging 183 for four.
Raina top-scored for the hosts and consumed 51 balls during his knock which was studded with seven boundaries. Besides Raina Dinesh Karthik (47) and Brendon McCullum played good hands for Gujarat Lions. For KKR, chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav picked up two wickets giving away 25 runs.
Sent in to bat, hard-hitting Englishman Jason Roy (14) made a breezy start to his IPL debut, smacking two fours off Trent Boult in the opening over before his cameo came to and end in the fourth over.
But the wicket hardly made any impact on McCullum’s style of play as he clobbered Chawla for a six just two balls later. Raina then joined the party and hit Chris Woakes for two fours in the sixth over.
SCOREBOARD
Gujarat Lions: Jason Roy c Pathan b Chawla 14, BB McCullum lbw b Kuldeep Yadav 35, Suresh Raina (not out) 68, Aaron Finch c Yadav b Kuldeep Yadav 15, Dinesh Karthik c Yadav b Boult 47, Dwayne Smith (not out) 0. Extras (lb-2, w-2) 4. Total (for four wickets in 20 overs) 183.
FoW: 1-22, 2-72, 3-92, 4-179.
Bowling: Boult 4-0-40-1, Chawla 4-0-33-1, Narine 4-0-33-0, Woakes 3-0-35-0, Kuldeep Yadav 4-0-25-2, Pathan 1-0-15-0.
Kolkata Knight Riders: G. Gambhir (not out) 76, C.A. Lynn (not out) 93. Extras (b-4, w-11) 15. Total (for no loss in 14.5 overs) 184.
Bowling: P. Kumar 2-0-13-0, D. Kulkarni 2.5-0-42-0, M. Gony 2-0-32-0, S. Kaushik 4-0-40-0, DR Smith 1-0-23-0, S. Jakati 3-0-30-0.
