Kolkata Knight Riders 158-4 (Shakib 66, Pathan 63; Praveen 2-19)
Gujarat Lions 164-5 (Dinesh Karthik 51, Aaron Finch 29)
Kolkata Knight Riders suffered a collapse that cost them dear as Gujarat Lions beat them by five wickets to regain the top spot.
Kolkata were 24 for four but, unlike Mumbai Indians in the earlier game of the day, they recovered to 158 for four with the help of a 134-run partnership from Shakib Al Hasan (66) and Yusuf Pathan (63). Pathan's second successive half-century yesterday was his 11th in match No 201 in the IPL.
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Praveen Kumar produced a devastating spell of 19 runs in his four overs with two wickets that inflicted most of that early damage.
That did not prove enough as Dinesh Karthik top scored for the visitors with a 29-ball 51, while Aaron Finch contributed with a quickfire 29 to their total of 164 for five. The rest of the top order pitched in with small but sizeable scores.
Before the game, the Knight Riders had talked of challenging Gujarat their “fortress” in Kolkata on Twitter.
After the game, Suresh Raina, the Gujarat captain, kept it simple. “Beating Kolkata in Kolkata is always crucial. They are a good team,” he said.
Rueing the loss, Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir said: “Credit goes to Praveen and Dhawal [Kulkarni]. You need to pick wickets early, and they did that.
“The way Shakib and Yusuf batted, they got us a total we could bowl at. We could have batted more cleverly.”
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