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Uthappa, Gambhir help Kolkata Pole vault to top

Pune: Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir hit fine half-centuries as Kolkata Knight Riders beat Rising Pune Supergiant by seven wickets in the 30th match of the IPL at Pune.

Chasing 183 runs to win, Uthappa (87, 47b, 7*4, 6*6) and Gambhir (62, 46b, 6*4, 1*6) hammered a clueless Pune attack as Kolkata pole vaulted to the top of the table.

Kolkata lost Sunil Narine early but Gambhir and Uthappa forged a brilliant 158-run stand for the second wicket to knock down Supergiant.

Jaydev Unadkat was guilty of dropping Uthappa early in the innings and the Kolkata wicket-keeper batsman counted his luck to script a superb victory.

While Uthappa took the aggressive route, Gambhir dropped anchor and kept milking the bowling. Steve Smith tried almost every option, but the duo of Gambhir and Uthappa were simply unstoppable.

Kolkata lost both Gambhir and Uthappa at the fag end of the game but the duo had finished the job well before they walked back to the hut.

Pune included Faf du Plessis in place of Ben Stokes and du Plessis neither batted nor rolled his arms over as Steve Smith's selection error hurt Pune.

Earlier, Smith led from the front with an unbeaten half-century to help Pune post 182/5.

Smith (51 not out from 37 balls) held the innings together as openers Ajinkya Rahane 46 (41b; 4x4, 1x6) and Rahul Tripathi 38 (23b; 7x4) played important knocks. Smith's half century was laced with four boundaries and a six.

Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav (2/31) was the pick of the bowlers for KKR.

Pune openers recovered from a tentative start against KKR new ball bowlers with Tripathi playing the aggressor's role after being dropped on 35 by Yusuf Pathan off Colin de Grandhomme's delivery.

The in-form 26-year-old right-hander took a liking to pacer Umesh Yadav, hitting three fours, two in one over, to race to 38 off just 22 balls before leg-spinner Piyush Chawla outfoxed him with a googly that the batsman chopped onto his stumps trying to cut.

At the other end, Rahane looked steady for his knock but fell short when Sunil Narine went wide outside off stump to force him to come down the ground and get stumped by wicket-keeper Robin Uthappa.

Rahane was part of two vital partnerships, with Tripathi for a 65-run stand for the first wicket and with Skipper Smith for a 47-run second-wicket stand.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni played a quickfire 23 (11b 1x4 2x6) before Kuldeep got the back of the former India captain with a googly as Uthappa stumped him.

Dan Christian 16 (6b 0x4 2x6) hit big too before getting out off the last delivery as KKR leaked 30 runs in the last two overs. Christian tonked two sixes to take his side to a par score on this wicket.



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