On this day, in the opening encounter of Gujarat Lions and Kolkata Knight Riders last year, Gujarat Lions felt safe when they posted a total of 183/4 on the board batting first. They were bitterly disappointed as Chris Lynn and Gautam Gambhir did not concede even an inch and cantered home with 10 wickets in hand and 31 balls still to be bowled. The unbelievable match happened on 7th April 2017.
The venue for the first match of the tenth IPL season for both the teams was the Indian Lord’s – Saurashtra Cricket Association, Rajkot. KKR captain Gautam Gambhir won the toss and decided to bat first. With three frontline spinners in the attack, bowling would have been difficult in dewy conditions for Kolkata. Lions had to obey the orders.
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The first assault on the Knight Riders came from the bat of Brendon McCullum. The Lions opener went berserk and smashed 35 off 24 balls with four boundaries and two sixes. The attack was further carried forward by Aaron Finch who smacked two sixes in his short stay of nine balls.
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By this time, Suresh Raina had settled at the other end and he was ready to blast off. He found an able partner in Dinesh Karthik. The two Indian old-timers started timing the ball sweetly and regularly found the boundary ropes keeping in with the momentum. The duo together put on 87 runs in 57 balls out of which Karthi’s contribution was that of 47 runs from 25 balls with six fours and two sixes.
The Lions ended up with 183/4 on the board. Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the bowlers with the bowling figures of 2/25 in his four overs. The Kolkatan chase began with Praveen Kumar bowling to Gautam Gambhir and Chris Lynn.
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The opening combination of Kolkata made full use of the powerplay boundary regulations and accumulated quick runs. Initially, it was Gautam Gambhir who took the charge with sporadic explosions from Chris Lynn. By the end of 6th over, KKR stood at 73/0 – their highest powerplay score in the IPL.
The next over was handed to gentle medium-pace bowler Dwayne Smith. Chris Lynn was waiting to greet him. In this over, he unleashed himself, the over description read – 6,4,0,6,6,1. Lynn collected 23 runs from the over, reaching his fifty in only 19 balls.
This punishment took the required run-rate below seven, from there on it was KKR’s match. They played smartly and kept blasting the ball out of the park as it suited them. Later Lynn shifted to the fifth gear again and finished the match for KKR without any blemish.
The record-breaking opening stand of 184 was not only the highest0ever for Kolkata Knight Riders, it was also the highest total ever chased in T20 cricket without losing a wicket. Gujarat Lions tasted the Lynnasanity first-hand.
