Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir help KKR chase 183 with ease against Pune

Kolkata Knight Riders cruised to a seven-wicket win over Rising Pune Supergiant at the Maharasthra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Wednesday. Chasing a formidable 183 to win, KKR’s Robin Uthappa (87 off 47) and captain Gautam Gambhir (62 off 46) shared a 158-run partnership for the second wicket, which took them just 85 balls to score. With the win, KKR displaced Mumbai Indians off the top of the table, with six wins out of eight. Pune stayed in fourth spot, with the defeat ending a three-match winning streak.

Questionable selection calls

Both captains delivered a shock each to their fans at the toss, by revealing that their match-winners from their respective previous games, Ben Stokes and Nathan Coulter-Nile, were not in the playing XI. While Stokes lost out because of a sore shoulder, KKR captain Gautam Gambhir said that Coulter-Nile had been rested because he wanted the Australian fast bowler to be fresh for the rest of the season. Coulter-Nile has played only three matches this season.

In his place, KKR picked Darren Bravo, which was a surprising call, not least because he is a batsman. Bravo is a decent bat, but Coulter-Nile spearheaded KKR’s dismantling of Royal Challengers Bangalore for an IPL record low of 49 all-out in the previous game. Will Bravo score enough to make up for Coulter-Nile’s absence? Did KKR miss a trick by not picking all-rounder Shakib al Hasan instead?

Pune did the same, replacing Stokes, an all-rounder but one whose bowling has outshone his batting this season, with batsman Faf du Plessis. Pune’s strength this season has been their batting, while their bowling hasn’t been the best. RPS had the chance to play leg-spinner Adam Zampa or pacer Lockie Ferguson instead, but went with another batsman.

Dhoni’s unusual cameo

Asked to bat first, RPS openers Ajinkya Rahane and Rahul Tripathi again got their team off to a good start. It wasn’t blistering, given the pitch was on the slower side, but they still managed to keep the run-rate hovering around nine an over, finding at least one boundary an over. Tripathi was dismissed in the eighth over by Piyush Chawla, but that hardly changed things as RPS captain Steve Smith walked out at three and continued with the hitting.

Rahane looked good for a half-century, before Robin Uthappa got third-time lucky with stumpings, giving Sunil Narine his first wicket of the game. Rahane’s dismissal for 46 off 41 brought MS Dhoni out to the middle to loud cheers around the MCA Stadium.

Gambhir tried to pull a rabit out of the hat by welcoming Dhoni with a slip, leg slip and silly point for the rest of Narine’s over. MSD responded in the next over, bowled by Chawla, as he smacked the leg-spinner for a four through midwicket and a sweet six straight down the ground. Kuldeep Yadav was also pulled for a six in the next over, as Dhoni raced along to 22 off eight balls. It was a start quite unlike Dhoni in the latter half of his career, where he has more often than not chosen to settle himself in before switching on the helicopter in the death overs.

RPS raced along to 147/2 in 17 overs and were looking good for a 180-plus total, as Kuldeep was tossed the ball for the 18th over.

Kuldeep’s googlies

Kuldeep knew that Dhoni would look to take him on again. He watched Dhoni come down the track and bowled him the wrong ‘un. Dhoni did not read it, missed it, and was stumped. He was gone for 23 (11). Three balls later, new batsman Manoj Tiwary was foxed by a googly as well, as RPS slipped to 150/4. Kuldeep’s over read: 1 W 1 1 W 2.

Chris Woakes bowled the 19th, and did pretty well for the first four balls, giving away just five runs, before Dan Christian whacked him for back-to-back sixes. Smith made it a hat-trick of maximums for his team as he sliced Umesh Yadav over point. Brilliant timing. RPS ended with a commendable 182/5, with Smith unbeaten on 51 off 37. Faf du Plessis did not get to bat at all.

Uthappa goes berserk

The lack of a replacement bowler for Stokes came back to haunt Pune as a Robin Uthappa-inspired Kolkata reached the target with seven wickets and 11 balls to spare. KKR started off a bit quietly, getting just 45 in the first six overs, at the expense of Sunil Narine’s wicket, who was dismissed via some awesome glovework from Dhoni. The KKR openers tried to sneak a quick single to short fine-leg, from where the fielder threw the ball and Dhoni just deflected it onto the stumps.

However, after Robin Uthappa walked in at three, it was all over for Pune. Uthappa went completely berserk and helped KKR hit 78 runs in the six overs after the Powerplay. Both he and Gambhir brought up their half-centuries in no time, as KKR coasted along to another huge win. Pune did not help their cause by dropping both batsmen through the course of their partnership, but they were undone by their bowling. Smith failed to find the right bowling combination and looked clueless.

Both were dismissed towards the end of the innings, looking to end the game as soon as possible, but it was too late for Pune. Uthappa’s 87 included 64 runs scored via boundaries (7x4, 6x6). Nearly half of Gambhir’s 62 runs were also boundaries.

Brief score:

Rising Pune Supergiant 182/5 in 20 overs (Steve Smith 51*, Ajinkya Rahane 46; Kuldeep Yadav 2/31) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 184/3 in 18.1 overs (Robin Uthappa 87, Gautam Gambhir 62) by seven wickets.