IPL 2017: Gautam Gambhir says Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) must use Sunil Narine as batsman

Gautam Gambhir walked out to the middle along with spinner Sunil Narine. This move did raise eyebrows, what followed later was Narine’s onslaught,

With Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) in-form opener Chris Lynn getting injured in the match against Mumbai Indians (MI), it was expected that wicketkeeper-batsman Robin Uthappa would open the innings along with Gautam Gambhir, against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP). But much to the surprise of all, Gambhir walked out to the middle along with spinner Sunil Narine. This move did raise eyebrows, but given the history of Narine having opened the innings in Big Bash League (BBL) for Melbourne Renegades, the apprehensions disappeared soon. What followed later was Narine’s onslaught, as he went onto to bash the KXIP bowlers smashing scoring 37 off just 18 deliveries.  Live Cricket Scorecard: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab, Match 11 at Eden Gardens

Chasing a challenging total of 171, Narine along with his captain Gambhir went on to put a 76-run stand for the first wicket in just 5.3 overs before the spinner getting dismissed. KKR won the game quite comprehensively by 8 wickets, surging to the top position in the IPL 2017 points table. Talking about the first-wicket partnership with Narine post match, Gambhir was quoted by PTI as saying, “I need to start trusting Narine with the bat now. He is a quality bowler and the leader of the attack irrespective of the conditions. Narine can hit the ball big, we have a long batting line-up, and so we sent Sunil in at the top. He won’t face many balls at No. 9 anyway.” Live cricket updates: KKR vs KXIP, match 10, IPL 2017

KKR has lost a previous game against Mumbai Indians (MI) in the ultimate over. On the other hand, KXIP were on-song, having won their two games and were sitting atop the IPL 10 points table prior to this game. But keeping their impressive run against KXIP over the past 7 games, KKR managed to win the game easily with Gambhir top-scoring and remaining unbeaten on 72 off 49 balls.

Also, this was the first home game KKR played in this 10th edition of IPL. Talking about the wicket, Gambhir stated, “This is a beautiful wicket to bat on and we had some quality fast bowlers. Umesh Yadav coming back made it easy for us.”

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