Gautam Gambhir’s regulation 59 steers KKR to 174-5 against MI in IPL 2016

KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir played a knock of 59, as he steered KKR to a challenging total of 174 for the loss of five, against MI in IPL 2016.

Former champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Gautam Gambhir played a traditional knock of 59, as he steered KKR to a challenging total of 174 for the loss of five, against defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI), in Match 24 of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday. Earlier, MI skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field first, as he fielded an unchanged side, following his win against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), while KKR skipper Gambhir made a couple of changes, bringing in Chris Lynn for Morne Morkel, and Jaydev Unadkat coming in for Piyush Chawla. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL 2016, Match 24 at Mumbai

The KKR opener sin the form of Robin Uthappa and and Gambhir were off to a steady start, bringing up a 69-run opening start, in which Uthappa contributed 36, while Gambhir contributed 32. However, it would not have been such a steady start for KKR, had not Mitchell McClenaghan dropped Uthappa in the fourth over. Nevertheless, MI had to wait until the eight over to get rid of Uthappa, who was dismissed by veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh, after being caught by Kierion Pollard for 36. FULL CRICKET UPDATES: Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL 2016, Match 24 at Mumbai

With just eight runs added to the total, it was their star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who too made his way back for a cheap score of six, after being dismissed off McClenaghan, as he was caught behind by Parthiv Patel in the ninth over. Neverhteless, it was followed by another big 44-run stand for the third wicket, between Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav, in which Gambhir contributed 25, and Yadav contributed 19. In the due course, Gambhir also brought up his 30th half-century in the IPL, and as a result, also became the batsmen to hold most 50 plus scores in the tournament, till date; and also hit the most boundaries in the history of IPL, i.e. 401.

It was in the 14th over, when at the score of 121, Gambhir fell for a healthy 59 to McClenaghan, after being caught by Pollard again. It was followed by a brief nine-run stand between Yadav and Andre Russell, before Yadav fell for 21 off Tim Southee, who caught him off his own delivery, in the 16th over.  In the 18th over, it was Russell, who fell for 22 to Southee again, after he was cleaned bowled by him, at the score of 145.

Then came the pair of Yusuf Pathan and Lynn, who were batting steady and added crucial few runs. However, it was only possible due to a couple of dropped catches of Lynn from Southee. Nevertheless, both the men batted out until the end and contributed about 29 runs, as KKR finished on a challenging total of 174 for the loss of five wickets in the 20 overs.

Full Scorecard

Brief scores:

Kolkata Knight Riders 174 for 5 in 20 overs (Gautam Gambhir 59, Robin Uthappa 36; Tim Southee 2 for 38) vs Mumbai Indians.

(Ayush Gupta is a reporter at CricketCountry. A passionate supporter of Manchester United, he idolises Roger Federer and is also a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) maniac. He can be followed on Twitter @Ayush24x7)

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