Kolkata Knight Riders galloped to the top of the Indian Premier League 2017 table after a 17-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad at Eden Gardens on Saturday (April 15).

After Robin Uthappa led them to 172 for 6, the spinners – Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav and Yusuf Pathan – came into their own, giving away only 43 runs in nine overs combined, and picking up three crucial wickets.

Uthappa had his share of luck, when he seemed to have got a thick edge to Naman Ojha off Bhuvneshwar Kumar the very first ball that he faced, and later had a caught-behind appeal overturned by the third umpire, when the on-field umpire had given him out, reports Wisden India.

“Well, luck does play a huge part, but it is both ways, isn’t it,” said Uthappa after the game. “We get so many the other way in our domestic circuit, so you are very happy when you have the rub of the green going your way sometimes, and I took it with both hands.”

Uthappa had a below-par domestic season, scoring 328 runs in seven matches at an average of 27.33 in the Ranji Trophy 2016-17, and then scored a single half-century in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

He accepted that he hadn’t been at his best, but said that he had been working hard to get back into his groove. “I am very happy with the way that I have been hitting the ball, have finally settled into my new technique now, and the results are there to see,” he said.