After being sent into bat, Gambhir led from the front as he anchored KKR to their highest total of the tournament at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in the match which was delayed by 20 minutes due to short circuit at the advertisement hoardings at the ground.
Gambhir just needed just 39 balls for his 64 which he scored with the help of nine fours and one six. He shared 60 runs for the opening wicket with Jacques Kallis (22) before another 65-run stand for the second wicket with Manvinder Bisla (46 off 29 balls; 2x4; 3x6)
KKR were off to a flying start with openers Gambhir and Kallis posting 50 in 5.1 overs. At the start, Kallis struggled to get going against Zaheer Khan in the very first over, but managed to tuck one to vacant fine leg boundary.
In the second over, KKR accumulated eight runs with Gambhir dispatching Vinay Kumar for four.
In the eventful third over, Kallis first clipped off his pads to square leg fence and drove through mid off for boundaries off Zaheer's bowling.
It was now the turn of Gambhir to plunder 15 runs in Harshal Patel's first over. He smashed two boundaries and a six taking the score 35 for no loss. Gambhir then showed little respect of Zaheer smashing him two consecutive boundaries, one through mid off and long leg fence.
