T20 2018: Slow and steady wins it, says Kolkata's Chris Lynn

Kolkata's Chris Lynn after scoring 50 against RCB on Sunday

Brendon McCullum and Chris Lynn are typical T20 batsmen. Both are firm believers in hitting the ball even when it's not meant to be hit. But had you seen either of them bat here on Sunday night, you might have been left wondering what had happened to them. It was perhaps the fortunes of the respective teams that brought about the change as both 'built' their innings rather than 'destroy' the opposition.

The change was more apparent in the way Lynn went about Kolkata' chase of the stiff 175 scored by the Bangalore a total set up by McCullum's 28-ball 38 and Virat Kohli's unbeaten 68 off 44 balls. A strike rate of 119 is not par for the course, not for Lynn, who finished with an unbeaten 62 as Kolkata won with five balls and six wickets to spare.

"Yeah, it hasn't been as free-flowing as what I normally like. Obviously, having come here [to the IPL] off the back of a couple of injuries, I haven't hit the ground running. Maybe my body didn't allow that early, but it is coming good now. I'm starting to find a bit of momentum which is important at the back end of the tournament. But yeah, on nights like tonight and wickets like tonight, it is challenging to have that flow and to build that strike rate of 200 is challenging," said Lynn.

It did help Lynn that first Sunil Narine and then Robin Uthappa merrily hit the ball around to ensure the asking rate of almost nine an over was never allowed to get out of hand. "Yeah, that's probably our game plan, Robbie [Uthappa] coming in at No. 3 takes the pressure off myself when the spinners bowl the majority of their overs. He's a class player and he just goes and backs himself. It was important, like I said, to play that anchoring role while someone chips in with a couple of boundaries," said Lynn.

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