Uthappa and Karthik's innings were very important in the run chase felt Chris Lynn

On a two-paced wicket, Kolkata Knight Riders were chasing a stiff total of 176 runs after a Virat masterclass in the first innings. After a slow start by the openers, ABD-less Royal Challengers Bangalore lost 3 quick wickets but Kohli stood his ground. Mandeep Singh and Colin de Grandhomme played their part while Kohli’s 44-ball 68 powered RCB to a par total of 175 runs.

Chasing the target, Narine who has a special liking of RCB bowling attack, provided another quick start to the side. Chris Lynn was given a life early on by RCB debutant Murugan Ashwin when dropped a dolly which eventually turned out a very costly miss for the side. Narine was lucky on a few occasions when his shots landed up safely. However, he was removed by debutant Ashwin on his first delivery.

Uthappa-Karthik inning very important

Uthappa joined Lynn in the middle who was starting to look threatening after that drop. Uthappa played a handy knock knock of 36 runs in the 49-run stand. Karthik too played a small hand during the run chase while Lynn held on to his end. Lynn, when asked about the wicket, suggested that the run chase was a challenging one but Uthappa and Karthik’s anchoring innings made things easier for them.

Chris Lynn added that they had to play out the spinners of RCB carefully without losing wickets as the ball was turning a lot. “It was important to not lose a wicket going into the little rain break. They had a couple of quality spinners and we saw the ball turning out there. We had to grind away at the start, it wasn’t a typical T20 game with the ball flying around,” said the right-hander who was named the man of the match for his 52-ball 62 runs.

Uthappa got the momentum back in our favour: Chris Lynn

Lynn talked about Uthappa’s knock and suggested that the right-hander goes in the middle and backs himself to hit the important boundaries. Notably, in his 21-ball innings, Uthappa hit 3 fours and 3 sixes which shifted the momentum towards the KKR. “He’s a class player. He just goes out there and backs himself. It’s important for someone to play that anchoring role throughout the innings, then someone chips in with a couple of boundaries and gets the momentum back,” Lynn said.

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