Kanpur, India: Captain Suresh Raina hit an unbeaten 53 after Dwayne Smith’s four-wicket haul as Gujarat Lions beat Kolkata Knight Riders by six wickets in the Indian Premier League last night.
Gujarat chased down the 125-run target with 39 balls to spare and jumped to second spot in the points table.
The Gujarat run-chase got off to a worst start possible with Ankit Rajpoot having Dwayne Smith caught behind by Robin Uthappa off the very first ball of the innings.
Brendon McCullum and Dinesh Karthik too departed early leaving Gujarat reeling at 38 for three in 3.5 overs.
It was from there on that Raina and Aaron Finch got together to steady the Gujarat run-chase. With a 59-run stand of 36 balls, Raina and Finch took control of the match.
Finch smashed two sixes and a four in his 23-ball 26 before he was run out after a mid-pitch collision with Raina in the 10th over.
Earlier, Smith took four wickets as Gujarat restricted Kolkata to 124 for eight.
Taking full advantage of helpful conditions, Smith bowled with immense control and got the ball to move, rocking the Kolkata innings that was staring down the barrel at 61 for five in 12 overs when the West Indian finished his spell with figures of 4-0-8-4.