Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine’s big hitting helped Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) sweep aside out-of-sorts Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by six wickets in a rain-interrupted Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Sunday.

It was a surprise when Narine came out to open the batting with the fit-again Lynn instead of in-form skipper Gautam Gambhir but the West Indian who has been doing the job at the top of the order for KKR this season vindicated the team management’s faith in him.

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Pursuing RCB’s 158/4, KKR romped home with 159/4 in 15.1 overs riding on a 105-run stand by Narine (54; 17b 6×4 4×6) and Lynn (50; 22b 5×4 4×6) in just 6.1 overs at a run rate of 17.02. Narine registered the fastest half-century in the IPL, reaching the 50-run-mark in just 15 balls.

KKR are now second in the points table with 16 points from 12 outings. They play Kings XI Punjab in Mohali before ending the league engagements at home against already-qualified Mumbai Indians.

The morning showed the day as far as KKR’s chase was concerned with Lynn — back from a shoulder injury — smoking Aniket Choudhary for two fours and a six on the trot. Sreenath Aravind was taken for 26 runs in one over as the maverick pair took the game away from RCB in the Powerplay itself.

Narine was the first to depart, top edging a Aniket Choudhary delivery which wicketkeeper Kedar Jadhav collected safely. Lynn was castled by Pawan Negi (2/21) who also accounted for the wicket of Colin de Grandhomme (31; 28b 1×4 2×6) while Yuzvendra Chahal sent Gambhir (14; 16b; 0x4 0x6) back in the hut. Yusuf Pathan (0 not out) and Manish Pandey (4 not out) saw the out the win for the men in purple.

Earlier, Travis Head’s pyrotechnics towards the end of the innings helped Royal Challengers Bangalore erase a top order collapse to post 158/6 in 20 overs. Mandeep Singh (52; 43b 4×4 1×6) also played well to graft the innings after the big three of Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers failed to contribute. Head (75 off 47 not out), who is playing in place of Shane Watson, and Mandeep stitched together a 71-run stand for the fourth wicket to stem RCB’s rot and at the end it was about the Australian’s big hitting.

While Mandeep took time to steady the ship and pace his innings to perfection, Head saved his shots for the last smashing Ankit Rajpoot and Chris Woakes for two sixes in consecutive overs to up the run rate. In the last over, Head tonked Umesh Yadav (3/36) for two sixes and a four on the trot to take away 21 runs. Put in to bat, Gayle played a lazy shot first ball of the match for Gambhir to complete the simplest of catches at short cover off Umesh’s bowling. Mandeep looked to take on Chris Woakes, opening the bowling in place of injured Nathan Coulter-Nile, hitting the England pacer for a four and a six off back-to-back deliveries.

Kohli’s (5; 9b; 0x4, 0x6) poor form continued unabated as the India captain could not make the most of his reprieve when Piyush Chawla grassed him at mid-off to get out in the very next ball. He fell to Umesh’s slower delivery with the ball striking his back foot for a plumb leg before wicket decision. 

Narine sent De Villiers (10; 8b 2×4 0x6) back in his first over with the out of form South African shuffling across the crease to miss the ball completely and losing his stumps as a result. Mandeep and Head took almost nine overs to engineer a 50-run stand for the fourth wicket. There was a period where RCB could not find the fence for five overs before Head pulled Ankit Rajpoot behind square leg for four.

Play was stopped for around 38 minutes after which Mandeep brought up his half century but the interruption in their partnership saw Narine taking the prized wicket of Mandeep. Kedar Jadhav holed out to Umesh who ran from long off to pouch the ball to help Chris Woakes grab a wicket. Negi added just five runs to the total before falling to Umesh in the final over.

IANS

Rising Pune Supergiant rode on little-known Rahul Tripathi’s career-best 93 of 52 balls to win, by four wickets, an Indian Premier League (IPL) engagement against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday and take giant strides towards the playoffs.

Pune, now on 14 points from 11 games, moved to third spot with KKR staying on second with the same number of points as Pune from 11 outings. Replying to KKR’s 155/8, Pune scored 158/6 in 19.2 overs.

Tripathi, who is playing his first IPL, brought up his fifty in just 23 deliveries with eight fours and three sixes.

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The Maharashtra batsman went from strength to strength after his half-century spanking chinaman Kuleep Yadav for three sixes on the trot in the 13th over.

Chris Woakes fared best among the bowlers for the hosts (3/18) taking the wickets of Pune and Australia skipper Steve Smith (9) and in-form Manoj Tiwary (8) off two excellent deliveries.

Umesh Yadav (1/22) removed India teammate Ajinkya Rahane (11) early but it was Tripathi who remained unfazed and took the charges against the likes of Nathan Coulter-Nile whom he spanked for 32 runs.

Ben Stokes, the hero of Pune’s last game against Gujarat Lions, departed for 14 but by the time the million-dollar England all-rounder trotted back towards the dugout, the job was all but done.

In came Mahendra Singh Dhoni to loud cheers only to make the long walk back to the dressing room scoring just 5 with Kuldeep picking his wicket.

Tripathi was finally dismissed by Woakes, seven runs short of his maiden ton but Dan Christian (9 not out) hit the winning runs with a six off Colin de Grandhomme in the final over.

Earlier, the New Zealand all-rounder Grandhomme’s 36 and Manish Pandey’s 37 saved KKR the blushes as the hosts recovered from a top-order collapse to post 155/8.A

Jaydev Unadkat (2/28) and Washington Sundar (2/18) were the best bowlers for Pune.

Grandhomme (36 of 19 balls) and Pandey (37 of 19 balls) joined hands when their side were tottering at 55/4 to stitch together a 48-run stand for the fifth wicket.

Suryakumar Yadav (30 off 16 not out) struck some lusty blows at the death hitting two consecutive fours and a six off Unadkat who leaked 21 runs in the penultimate over.

Sans the services of their best batsman Robin Uthappa — out with a niggle, the hosts’ batting lacked zip losing three wickets for just 41 runs in the Powerplay.

Sunil Narine was the first to go, not connecting with the ball in the first five deliveries to finally give bowler Unadkat an easy catch in his follow through.

Sheldon Jackon (10) followed suit soon after, getting hit wicket off the bowling of Sundar.

Skipper Gautam Gambhir (24) hit Stokes for two back-to-back fours and in the next over, tanked Sundar for a boundary and a six before holing out to Rahane at deep midwicket.

Imran Tahir got rid of Yusuf Pathan (4) as the men in purple who have an enviable record at home looked hapless.

Pandey and Grandhomme — dropped once at long -off by Dan Christian when the New Zealander was on 10 — steadied the ship somewhat before Pandey got out.

Christian made amends for his grassed catch, with a slower one which Pandey failed to pick, giving an easy catch to Rahane at deep midwicket.

Unadkat got the wicket of Grandhomme with Woakes (1) getting running out soon after.

Coulter-Nile scored six before falling to Stokes as Umesh Yadav remained unbeaten with Suryakumar on 2.

IANS

A dejected Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli on Sunday admonished his batsmen after collapsing to a 82-run defeat against the Kolkata Knight Riders here, saying such performance from the famed batting line up was “unacceptable”.

Calling it the RCB’s “worst batting performance”, Kohli said that “it really hurts”.

The visitors were bundled out for 49, the lowest total in the Indian Premier League after the KKR, put in to bat first by Kohli, were all out for 131.

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“After the kind of half that we had, we thought we could capitalise and chase it down. Reckless batting. I can’t say anything at the moment. It was that bad. This is just not acceptable,” said a visibly annoyed Kohli, who himself scored a golden duck.

The India captain, however, claimed he was distracted by a spectator.

“The sightscreen is very small here, one guy got up as the bowler was loading up, that distracted me. Still it wasn’t a big deal. That was just one down,” he said.

Kohli said the team needed to move on, leaving behind the poor show.

“We need to forget it and move forward. We’re a much better team. We got 200 plus in the last game. I’m sure everyone realises what they’ve done wrong.

“You have to come out, show intent and back yourselves. I’m sure we won’t bat like that again in the tournament.

“We’re going back home for a couple of games. We’ve got back-to-back games, need to try and win those to get some momentum,” he said.

IANS

Robin Uthappa, whose 68 helped Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) win easily against Sunrisers Hyderabad, said the team now wants him to bat at No.3, and the home side was in control of the game all the time.

“The team requires me to bat at No 3. I have taken that challenge on. It’s a very important position as well. It’s an important wicket and we need someone who is experienced and can handle that pressure to make sure that you don’t lose another wicket immediately,” Uthappa, who usually opens the batting for the men in purple, told reporters at the end of the match. Uthappa was adjudged the man-of-the-match.

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“I woudn’t say that the experiment is not working, because it’s just one game,” the Karnataka batsman said of opener Sunil Narine who failed on Saturday managing just six.

“He is hitting the ball really well. I think it’s important for us to back him. If we don’t back players in this tournament, they trend to breed insecurity and we will back Sunil all the way. He is going to repay that faith.”

KKR were always in control of the game, Uthappa said.

“At no point, we were out of the game. They never had the upper hand. We kept the momentum really well and after not getting wickets in the first six overs I thought we did really well to keep the momentum,” he pointed out.

Asked if KKR who posted 172/6 after being asked to bat first by visiting captain David Warner, were a few runs short, Uthappa said: “We did end up with a little less than we intended to. But credit should be given to the bowlers for the way they bowled. Bhuvi bowled really well at the death and he is an extremely good death bowler. We did out best and had faith in our bowlers.”

IANS

Rana, Pandya helped the Mumbai Indians assert their dominance over the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium with a thrilling four-wicket win.

Chasing 179 for victory, Mumbai — who have now won 14 times in their 19 meetings with KKR — were always up against it losing wickets at regular intervals. At one point the hosts were reeling at A119 for 5 when Hardik Pandya joined Nitish Rana in the middle.

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Needing 60 runs off the last 24 balls, Rana went from strength to strength, going from 29 off 23 at one stage to 50 off 28.A

Hardik at the other end, smacked the winning runs in his much-needed 11-ball 29 cameo in which he hit three fours and two sixes.

Rana’s well paced essay which turned the match on its head after KKR had managed to shave off half of Mumbai batting for a modest score, was laced with five boundaries and three over-boundaries. The pair stitched together a 41-run stand for the sixth wicket.

KKR suffered due to poor bowling at the death from New Zealander Trent Boult (3.5/47) and Ankit Rajpoot (3/37) as the duo went for 19 runs each in the 17th and 18h over respectively. In the last over, Mumbai needed 11 runs and they reached the target with one ball to spare.

Mumbai got off to a flying start as their openers Parthiv Patel (30, 27b; 3×4, 1×6) and Jos Buttler joined hands for a 65-run association for the first wicket.

Patel, who has the third-worst average in the IPL for anyone to have opened in the at least 20 innings, looked to be settling down as the Gujarat Ranji Trophy winning captain slog-swept chinaman Kuldeep Yadav for a huge six over wide long-on before the left-arm spinner got the back of the 32-year old.

Parthiv looked to sweep down the leg side again coming across his stumps with the ball straightening from off stump towards middle for a simple leg before wicket decision.

Buttler, who was looking good for his 28 (22b 1×4 2×6), followed suit in the next over, Ankit Rajpoot removing the England wicketkeeper who played across the line getting LBW in the process.

Skipper Rohit Sharma (2), who raised a few eyebrows by sending Rana ahead of him at No.3, lasted just six balls before Sunil Narine brought about the third leg before wicket of the innings.

In came Krunal Pandya, who starred with the ball (3/24), with his team in a spot of bother losing three wickets for just nine runs.

Together Krunal and Rana added 23 runs in good time for the fourth wicket but KKR dealt the hosts another timely blow.

Rajpoot was in the thick of things again, managing to get a thin edge off Krunal who tried to work the ball fine down the leg side with keeper Robin Uthappa pouching a regulation catch.

At 97/4, Keiron Pollard had a job to do when he joined Rana in the middle. The big-hitting West Indian though failed to conjure up any magic as KKR bowlers Kuldeep, Chris Woakes and Narine bottled up the pair towards the end of their essay.

Trying to up the ante, Pollard went for a heave but could manage as far as substitute Rishi Dhawan at third man.

There was no stopping Rana though. In the 18th over, the Delhi lad made Boult leak 19 runs with Hardik Pandya also joining the party.

There seemed to be no respite for Rajpoot as well before the Kanpur medium pacer sent the dangerous Rana back in the hut as the latter tried to make room for himself but holed in to Narine at point. In the end of the over, Rajpoot conceded 19 as well leaving Boult to defend 11 runs in the last over, which he eventually couldn’t.

Earlier, a rampaging Manish Pandey led with an unbeaten 81, as KKR overcame mid-innings hiccups to post a challenging 178/7.

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About to complete a decade the IPL, in its every season has thrown at us rich domestic talent. And this season is going to be no different. So here at Glint TV Megha’s Maiden Glance will familiarise with you the uncapped gem that are waiting to be unearthed. So here is the first of our series, the uncapped talent of the Kolkata Knight Riders!

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