IPL 9: Dwayne Smith, Suresh Raina take Gujarat Lions closer to play-offs

Kanpur Dwayne Smith starred with the ballbefore Suresh Raina struck a sublime half century to guideGujarat Lions to a sixwicket win over Kolkata Knight Riderstaking them closer to a spot in the playoffs of the IndianPremier League here todayA timely 59run run stand between Suresh Raina 53 not outof 36 balls and Aaron Finch 26 secured the game for Lionsafter Smith put a stellar show with the ball ending withcareer best T20 figures of four for eightDwayne Smith celebrates the fall of a KKR wicket at Kanpur on Thursday night PicPTILions eventually raced home in 133 overs afterrestricting to KKR to 1248 at the Green Park Stadium whichhosted its first ever IPL gameWith the win Lions leaped to second place in the pointstable having gained 16 points from 13 matches KKR remained inthe playoffs hunt despite the loss and are fourth in thestandings with 14 points from 13 matches Both teams have onematch left to playThe modest chase was going to be a tricky one under theconditionsThe Lions lost their star bowler on the day Smith afterhe got an inside edge to the keeper while attempting a pull onthe first ball of the innings Pacer Ankit Rajpoot providedthe important breakthroughThe other dangerous opener Brendon McCullum too did nothang around for long after hitting a six Morne Morkel wentthrough the gate of Dinesh Karthik to have Lions in a spot ofbother at 38 for three in the fourth overWhat worked well for Lions was that they maintained ahealthy run rate even as they lost quick wickets Theexperienced Raina who returned to action following the birthof child steadied the ship alongside FinchWith run rate pressure not there the two batted sensiblyto take the team at the doorstep of victory Finch was unluckyto be run out after he collided with Raina as the pairattempted a third runRainas effort included a straight six off Morkel andseven delightful boundaries He also went past 4000 runs inthe IPL becoming the second one to do so after Virat KohliEarlier Smith turned out to be almost unplayable for KKR batsmen after Raina put the opposition on a greenish track The Lions made good use of the conditions with the ball moving aroundOpeners Robin Uthappa 25 and Gautam Gambhir 8 found ittough in the middle with the ball seaming around especiallynegotiating Smith A struggling Gambhir were given two livesin the field before he got involved in mixup with Uthappa tobe run outSmith then dealt a triple blow to leave KKR at 55 for fourin 10 overs The gentle medium pacer the odd ball seam andjump off the pitch as he had Manish Pandey caught at firstslip before Uthappa played a loose shot to be caught behindSmith dominated the opposition batsmen and ended upbowling 18 dot balls in his four over spellPiyush Chawla promoted to number four in the battingorder did not last long and was bowled by Smith Shakib AlHasan ended being Smiths final victim after he mistimed oneto be picked up at third man reducing KKR to 61 for five inthe 12th overThe inform Yusuf Pathan 36 and Suryakumar Yadav 17were able to stitch a handy 41run partnership but their teamneeded more from them in the circumstancesKKR could have got a few more if Pathan did not get out onthe second ball of the 18th over The big hitter ended withthree fours and a six in his run a ball effort