12 May,2014 11:12 AM IST | | PTI
Kolkata Knight Riders captain played down his own good form lavishing praise on his opening partner Robin Uthappa for giving the team blazing starts which has helped in winning back-to-back matches
Gautam Gambhir
Cuttack: Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir played down his own good form lavishing praise on his opening partner Robin Uthappa for giving the team blazing starts which has helped in winning back-to-back matches.
"Robin has taken a lot of pressure off me since he started opening," Gambhir said after KKR handed Kings XI Punjab a comprehensive nine-wicket defeat at the Barabati Stadium yesterday.
Gautam Gambhir. Pic/ PTI
Chasing a modest target of 150, Gambhir anchored the chase to perfection with a well-crafted unbeaten 65 after Uthappa provided the momentum with a 28-ball-46. Such was their domination that the match ended with two overs to spare.
Chawla shines
Credit should also be given to leg-spinner Piyush Chawla (3/19) for his brilliant bowling in the middle overs after Virender Sehwag had set the tone for Punjab with a 50-ball-72. KKR now have eight points and remain in the mix while KXIP got a timely wake-up call ahead of their bigger battles in the knock-out stages of the competition.
Roller-coaster ride
It's been a roller coaster ride for Gambhir who started the tournament with a hat-trick of ducks and now has completed a hat-trick of half-centuries. He now has 23 half-centuries across seven IPL editions - maximum by any player till date.
He changed his approach letting Uthappa dominate in the beginning and played himself in before going for the attack. Gambhir faced 45 balls hitting seven fours and more importantly finished off the match staying at the crease right till the end.
He added 82 runs for the unbroken second wicket with Manish Pandey (36 not out). Uthappa continued in blazing form as he hit a flurry of boundaries in the Powerplay overs with skipper Gambhir holding one end up. The floodgates opened in the third over bowled by Sandeep Sharma in which Uthappa got three boundaries. A flick, followed by two lovely drives. The next over from Mitchell Johnson was even better as he started with a pulled six.
