Spinner Sunil Narine scalped two batsmen in two balls in his three-wicket haul for Kolkata Knight Riders but Umar Akmal scored a brisk 40 towards the end to help Lahore Lions post a fighting 151 for seven in a Group A Champions League Twenty20 match, here today.
In his excellent figures, Narine took three wickets at the expense of just nine runs in his four overs.
Enjoying largesses from the buttered-fingered KKR fielders, Lions opener Ahmed Shehzad scored 59 as he could have been stumped twice and also caught once before being finally dismissed. He ended up punishing the KKR bowlers with four sixes and five fours in his 42-ball knock.
Akmal scored 40 off just 24 balls before being dismissed off the last ball of the Lions innings. He creamed off 16 runs off Piyush Chawla in the 17th over, hitting the spinner for two fours and a six and also hit paceman Pat Cummis for a straight six in the last over.
Along with Wahab Riaz (14 not out) he added 48 runs for the seventh wicket in just 4.3 overs to help Lions recover some ground.
Akmal's onslaught came after Narine dismissed Umar Siddiq (2) and Asif Raza (0) off successive balls. He could have taken a fourth wicket but dropped Wahab Riaz off his own bowling. Australian paceman Cummins was hammered around when he bowled full as Pakistani batsmen were terrific in picking up the length after they being asked to bat.
Shehzad was comfortable swinging his bat on both sides as he found two boundaries, including a six.
Skipper Gambhir introduced Chawla in the fourth over but the leg spinner was also taken to cleaners by Shehzad even as the Indian bowler was unlucky as Manvinder Bisla missed an easy stumping in the fifth ball. Shehzad was on 19.
Debutant Kuldeep Yadav was impressive with his Chinaman stuff but he too was denied a wicket thanks to Bisla's second miss. Again it was Shehzad who was the beneficiary. However, KKR finally got a wicket in the same over when Andre Russel's direct hit found Nasir Jamshed (10) short of crease.
The KKR largesses for Shehzad continued as now Narine missed out on grabbing a catch chance at short third man when the batsman reverse swept.
Lions skipper Mohammed Hafeez (9) did not last long as he became the maiden wicket for young Yadav, who foxed the Pakistani batsman with a wrong one.
Shehzad completed his half-century with a cheeky boundary but was dismissed when caught at boundary ropes by Robin Uthappa off Chawla.
