Clinical effort, adapted well to conditions: Karthik

While Rajasthan Royals failed to start well with the bat, Kolkata Knight Riders openers Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine ensured that they got off to a brilliant start and KKR skipper said that the eight-wicket win was a culmination of quality bowling followed by some good hitting by the openers.

"It was a pretty clinical effort, the bowlers bowled well and the batsmen backed it up well too. In India you get to play on a lot of slow surfaces and you need to adapt to them. We need to improve in a few situations, but that's always the case. Well Harry (Gurney) is a true professional, he's played in leagues all over the world," Karthik smiled.

Lynn put his 32-ball 50 to some luck going his way and added that Narine has been brilliant at the top. "Rode my luck again. But we knew we had to go hard in the powerplay. It slowed up as the innings progressed. It was a nice powerplay and we were in cruise control after that. I nicked it, so I thought I was gone one way or the other. It happens in T20 cricket.

"Unbelievable (batting from Narine). He has done it for a couple of years now. We don't talk too much. Just keep it simple. I am traditionally a slow starter. It is a long tournament, we are building nicely with important wins," he said.

Gurney finished with figures of 2/25 from his four overs and said that the surface was ideal for his bowling style. "It was a pitch that suited my cutter options, so a nice one to make my debut on. I work hard on my variations and on my yorker and it is nice to have them in tough situations, although I didn't use it much tonight. I am working on a knuckle ball but I don't think it'll be ready during the IPL, maybe somewhere in the English summer," he said.

--IANS

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