Gujarat snaps losing streak vs. Kolkata

KILKATA — Dinesh Karthik led the way with a fluent half century as Gujarat Lions snapped their three-match losing streak to reclaim the top spot on the standings table with a five-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL Sunday. Chasing 159 on a slow Eden surface, the duo of Dwayne Smith (27) and Brendon McCullum (29) handed Lions a perfect launchpad with 42 from 5.3 overs. The duo fell in the space of 15 runs when Shakib Al Hasan and Piyush Chawala took one wicket each but it was sheer elegance from wicketkeeper batsman Karthik who scored a 29-ball 51 to set up the chase. After Karthik was stumped, Aaron Finch's hit 29 from 10 balls (3x4, 2x6) before being run out. Ravindra Jadeja sealed the chase with two overs to spare as he launched a six over long-on. The Lions thus returned to winning ways after a hat trick of defeats as they jumped to the top of the table with 14 points from 11 matches, while KKR was pushed to third behind Sunrisers Hyderabad on net run rate. Earlier, Yusuf Pathan (63) and Shakib Al Hasan (66) bailed Kolkata Knight Riders out from a disastrous start to post a fighting 158 for four after being invited to bat. Brief scores: Gujarat Lions 164 for 5 (Karthik 51, Finch 29, McCullum 29) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 158 for 4 (Shakib 66*, Yusuf 63*; Praveen 2-19). Hyderabad punishes Mumbai Ashish Nehra produced a sensational spell of pace bowling after Shikar Dhawan shone with the bat as Sunrisers Hyderabad spanked Mumbai Indians by 85 runs in the Indian Premier League in Visakhapatnam also Sunday. Hyderabad posted a challenging 177 for 3 with opener Dhawan unbeaten on 82 off 57 balls, studded with 10 fours and a six, after being put into bat and then senior pacer Nehra (3-15) triggered a Mumbai top-order batting collapse in a 12-ball spell of three wickets to help the home side notch up an easy win. Bangladeshi pacer Mustafizur Rahman also scalped three wickets for 16 as he cleaned up the Mumbai lower order. With the win, its sixth in nine matches, Hyderabad jumped to second spot with 12 points. Mumbai remained fifth with 10 points from 10 matches. Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 177 for three in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 82*, David Warner 48; Harbhajan Singh 2-29) beat Mumbai Indians 92 all out in 16.3 overs (Harbhajan Singh 21 not out, K Pandya 17; A Nehra 3-15, M Rehman 3-16). — Agencies