Uthappa drives Kolkata to comfortable win

India

Former India batsman Robin Uthappa's quest to get back into the national side took another correct turn on Wednesday as his 80 helped the Kolkata Knight Riders to a six-wicket win over the Mumbai Indians.

Former India batsman Robin Uthappa's quest to get back into the national side took another correct turn on Wednesday as his 80 helped the Kolkata Knight Riders to a six-wicket win over the Mumbai Indians.

With scores of 47. 65, 47, 46 and now this 80 in his last five games, Uthappa has been the driving force behind KKR's good fortunes, and they chased the 142 required with eight balls to spare.

Mumbai batted first after being put in to bat, and after a few good results since their return to India, they reverted back to the dire form they showed in the UAE. They lost two early wickets and were only on 37 after the power play.

It was Rohit Sharma's half century that ensured a remotely decent score, scoring 51 before being bowled by Sunil Narine, while Ambhati Rayudu made 33. Otherwise, the top order failed to fire as they ended on 141 for five.

The chase was helmed by Uthappa, who made sure to get the bulk of the runs in the bag as quickly as possible, leaving little for the rest of his side to do. His 50 came off 34 balls, and in the end he made 80 off 52, including three sixes.

The rest of the line up didn't do much, but they didn't need to, as Uthappa departed with the score on 116. Yusuf Pathan made sure the game ended speedily, making 20 not out off 13 balls to keep his side in the play off places.

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