New Delhi: KKR opener and Australian hitter Chris Lynn scored a much-needed fifty to ensure the hosts were primed for a big total against KKR at Eden Gardens. Despite Sunil Narine’s early departure, Lynn combined with Robin Uthappa first and later with skipper Dinesh Karthik to put KKR in driver’s seat.
Lynn, known to take on the opposition from the word go, seemed to have taken a leaf out of Chris Gayle’s book, negotiating KXIP bowling well with the new ball. He looked determined to cut out all the risk shots and make sure KKR not lose wickets. Uthappa got going from the other end, giving Lynn the time to build on his innings. Till the first six overs, he was batting on 22 off 17 balls but he launched his onslaught in the eighth over when Barinder Sran was thrashed for 23 runs. After Uthappa exchanged strike on the second ball including a six on the first, Lynn got a wide delivery, which he slapped to cover for a boundary.
The next was shorter, quicker and Lynn rode the bounce to deposit Sran rows back in the square-leg stands. On the last ball, he picked Sran’s slower very early and positioned himself to repeat the pull for a six. From 22 off 17 balls, Lynn shot up to 40 off just 23. Four overs later, Lynn got a four of a half tracker from Yuvraj and followed it up a single and a two to recah his 50 off 30 balls.
Lynn then targeted Andrew Tye in the 13th over and collected 13 runs. He stood deep in the crease and took a middle-stump guard. The advantage of standing in such a stance was that it was easy for him to swivel and launch the bowlers on the leg side. Also, he hasn’t too tried too hard to find boundaries and has waited for the loose deliveries. He rotated the strike really well and ensured he wasn’t missing on singles.
But his over dependedence on th leg-side eventually cost him his wicket as he tried to drag a TYe slower one wide of off towards leg and snicked behind on 74. He hit 6 boundaries and 4 sixes. Having collected 48 runs through boundaries, he ran 26 runs. Also, he was part of a couple of important stands of 72 and 62, never letting KKR off track.
Source: Zee News