Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) toyed with the toothless Gujarat Lions bowling attack to script a facile 10-wicket victory, riding on batting heroics of Australian Chris Lynn and skipper Gautam Gambhir in their opening Indian Premier League (IPL) match here yesterday.
Lynn (93 off 41) and Gambhir (76 off 48) did not let the cheerleaders rest from the word go, chasing the 184-run target. Lions had posted 183 for 4 after being asked to bat first.
The unbroken opening stand of 184 between the KKR pair became the highest in IPL history for the first wicket, overcoming the 167-run partnership between Chris Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors.
Without Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja, the home side’s inexperience in the bowling department was laid bare as the opening pair recorded their fastest 100-run opening partnership, coming off just 46 balls.
This was also KKR’s highest opening-wicket association, surpassing the previous best of 121 runs involving Gambhir and Robin Uthappa.
KKR got off to a flying start at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium with both Lynn and Gambhir taking the opposition bowlers to the cleaners.
Lynn’s pyrotechnics saw the Australian bring up his half century in just 19 balls laced with four boundaries and five sixes.
The Australian used his raw power to clobber the likes of Dwayne Smith. Smith was sent for 23 runs in one over.
At the other end, Gambhir milked rookie chinaman Shivil Kaushik for 23 runs in 13 deliveries.
Dhawal Kulkarni was the worst among the bowlers, conceding 42 runs off his 2.5 overs.
The way both the batsmen paced their innings was a study in contrast. Gambhir did not hit a six in his whole innings, preferring groundstrokes (12 fours) and the leg side more. Lynn, however, smoked eight sixes and six fours, mostly taking the aerial route and using his power to send the ball to all parts of the park.
Earlier, skipper Suresh Raina led from the front with a half century while Dinesh Karthik added the fireworks later on as the Lions posted 183 for 4 in 20 overs.
Raina (68 not out off 51) was dropped twice during his stay, with the veteran of the shortest format of cricket making the most of his lives to notch up his 29th fifty in the IPL.
Raina also surpassed India and Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli as the highest run-getter in the T20 league.
Karthik (47 off 25) continued his purple patch with the bat with a well-paced 47 off 25 balls where the Tamil Nadu batsman spanked medium pacer Chris Woakes in the penultimate over as the Englishman had a forgettable debut. The partnership between the pair for the fourth wicket was 87 runs.
Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav returned best figures of 2 for 25 in his four overs for the visitors.

BRIEF SCORES: Gujarat Lions 183 for 4 (Raina 68, Karthik 47; Kuldeep 2-25) lose to Kolkata Knight Riders 184 for 0 (Lynn 93*, Gambhir 76*) by 10 wickets