Kolkata Knight Riders inches closer to a semifinal spot

September 21, 2014 08:11 pm | Updated September 22, 2014 01:19 am IST - Hyderabad

Lahore Lions didn’t really roar. On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders, which rode on its all-round brilliance, notched up a four-wicket win to inch closer to a semifinal berth here on Sunday night.

Chasing a target of 152, KKR was off to a wonderful start with opener and captain Gautam Gambhir rediscovering his wonted form. At the other end, the hard-hitting Robin Uthappa was a perfect complement to him, with two huge sixes — one each off left-arm spinner Mustafa Iqbal and off-break bowler Adnan Rasool.

With the openers setting the tempo with their 100-run stand in 12.3 overs, a KKR win was not in doubt even though the quick dismissals of Uthappa, Gambhir and Manvinder Bisla, Yusuf Pathan might have triggered a ray of hope for the Lions. Compounding the misery of the bowlers, Lions fielding, too, was shoddy.

Earlier, put into bat, Lahore Lions, found batting tough on a slow pitch. Sunil Narine standing out once again with a dream spell of 4-1-9-3 and could have had his fourth wicket, had he not failed to latch on to a skier of his own bowling after Wahab Riaz mistimed a sweep shot.

With an unusual field for a T20 game with a silly-point and two slips for most of the middle overs, it was slow bowlers Chawla, left-armer Kuldeep Yadav and Narine who were the most effective.

But for the belligerence at the top by opener Nasir Jamshed and later the flamboyance of the experienced Umar Akmal the Lions’ total would have been more disappointing.

Scoreboard

Lahore Lions: Nasir Jamshed run out (Russell) 10 (16b, 1x4), Ahmed Shehzad c Uthappa b Chawla 59 (42b, 5x4, 4x6), Mohammed Hafeez c Russell b Kuldeep 9 (15b), Umar Akmal c Gambhir b Cummins 40 (24b, 3x4, 2x6), Saad Nasim c Surya Kumar b Narine 0 (4b), Umar Siddique lbw b Narine 2 (6b), Asif Raza b Narine 0 (1b), Wahab Riaz (not out) 14 (12b, 2x4), Extras (b-5, lb-5, w-7): 17; Total (for seven wickets in 20 overs): 151.

Fall of wickets: 1-50 (Jamshed), 2-75 (Hafeez), 3-91 (Shehzad), 4-98 (Nasim), 5-103 (Siddique), 6-103 (Raza), 7-151 (Akmal).

Kolkata Knight Riders bowling: Pat Cummins 4-0-38-1, Andre Russell 4-0-38-0, Piyush Chawla 4-0-35-1, Sunil Narine 4-1-9-3, Kuldeep Yadav 4-0-21-1.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Robin Uthappa b Rasool 46 (34b, 4x4, 2x6), Gautam Gambhir b Iqbal 60 (47b, 8x4), Manvinder Bisla c Akmal b Cheema 6 (8b), Yusuf Pathan c Riaz b Cheema 11 (10b, 1x6), Ryan ten Doeschate lbw Riaz 12 (9b, 1x4), Suryakumar Yadav (not out) 14 (5b, 1x4, 1x6), Andre Russell c Rasool b Raza 1 (4b), Pat Cummins (not out) 0 (0b), Extras (w-3): 3; Total (for six wickets in 19.3 overs): 153.

Fall of wickets: 1-100 (Uthappa), 2-113 (Gambhir), 3-115 (Bisla), 4-135 (Pathan), 5-146 (ten Doeschate), 6-147 (Russell).

Lahore Lions bowling: Mohammed Hafeez 3-0-23-0, Asif Raza 1.3-0-10-1, Aizaz Cheema 4-0-42-2, Wahab Riaz 4-0-25-1, Adnan Rasool 4-0-28-1, Mustafa Iqbal 3-0-25-1.

Toss: Knight Riders

Man of the Match: Narine

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