IPL 2017, Match 3, GL vs KKR: CT Player of the match – Chris Lynn

Gujarat Lions and Kolkata Knight Riders were very busy in their preparations during the opening match for both the teams. It was a fantastic opportunity for them to get a headstart in the tournament. However, only one team turned up at the venue and sadly for the home fans it was not their team.

Gujarat did bat well and posted an excellent total of 184 but the way they bowled, Kolkata Knight Riders would have chased any total on the day. Chris Lynn who has been with KKR for some time now finally arrived at the IPL. He was fantastic, brilliant batting right from the start which allowed his captain Gautam Gambhir to settle.

The partnership between both of them was never broken as KKR bludgeoned GL by ten wickets and will probably top the table with that kind of run-rate.

That performance has made Chris Lynn CricTracker’s player of the match.

Chris Lynn came out all guns blazing.

Lynn is probably a middle order batsman, he would normally bat at number three at the highest but hardly would open the batting but today he was given the opportunity and boy did he take it with both hands. Chris just smacked the bowlers to each and every part of the ground. The Lord’s like stadium was struck with awe of this man’s power hitting.

The all Indian bowling attack of Gujarat Lions was held by the neck and smacked on the ground by this 26-year-old Australian. And that is why he was pushed up the order, to give KKR a good start, but he not only gave them a good start but made sure he took them home.

Gujarat’s bowlers were struck with Lynnsanity.  

Chris Lynn was in such a form that he struck every bowler with conviction and power, some of those sixes might have landed in Brisbane, mind you. Only Praveen Kumar bowled well as every other bowler has his economy in double figures. They had no idea where to bowl to this man. So much so that they started bowling wide balls after a point some of them resulted in five runs as well.

It was awe-inspiring from the Australian whose previous IPL campaigns have been struck with injuries and he has to struggle a lot during his career. But this innings of his will make him a hero amongst the Indians and most of all he is already a hero for all the Kolkata fans.

Maiden IPL fifty for Lynn.

Chris Lynn brought up his fifty in 7^th over of the game which is quite insane as he only played 19 deliveries for it. He scored the fourth fastest fifty in the history of the IPL and had he more runs to chase he might have got to his maiden century as well.

Lynn hit eight blistering sixes and six squash buckling boundaries in his fantastic innings of 93. He scored 93 of just 41 deliveries and was in top notch form. His captain was also enjoying the innings from his Aussie partner as they shared the highest opening stand in the history of the Indian Premier League.

Carried his team to the finish line.  

Chris Lynn was asked to open to give the Knight Riders a quick start which would lay the foundation for the other batters to finish the things. However, Lynn had other things on mind. He was in his own world as he it was like a slow motion destruction sequence from an action movie as he smashed every other ball to the boundary.

Even Raina was left flabbergasted by his clean strikes and his innings of 68 looked like a child’s play. Because of this hard-hitting and KKR rushed towards the total and finished the game with 31 balls to spare.

Chris Lynn’s headlining performance has earned him 4.5 stars out of the possible 5 as he won the game for his team and earned them their first points of the season.