Kolkata Knight Riders 184 for 3 (Uthappa 87, Gambhir 62) beat Rising Pune Supergiant 182 for 5 (Smith 51, Rahane 46, Kuldeep 2-31) by seven wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Robin Uthappa flayed 87 off 47 balls © BCCI
A turbo-charged fifty from Robin Uthappa and a more sedate one from Gautam Gambhir helped Kolkata Knight Riders chase down 183 with 11 balls to spare and reclaim the top spot. Their 158-run partnership – the second highest for KKR in the IPL – ruthlessly exposed the limitations in a Pune attack that was without Ben Stokes, who was nursing a niggle.
In Stokes’ absence, there was a case for Pune to pick either fast bowler Lockie Ferguson or legspinner Adam Zampa. Instead, they opted for a batsman in Faf du Plessis, who did not face a ball.
Five of Pune’s six bowlers went for over eight runs an over – and three went for over 10. Pune’s fielding was just as slipshod as their bowling. Uthappa, who was dropped on 12, moved to his career-best IPL score of 87. Gambhir, who was dropped on 32, went onto make 62. By the time they were dismissed in successive overs, the game was all but over. It was IPL debutant Darren Bravo who applied the finishing touches with a crunching cover drive.
Full report to follow
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo