Kolkata Knight Riders ease past Sunrisers Hyderabad
Kolkata Knight Riders secured a comfortable win against bottom-of-the-table Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets. Requiring only 116 runs to win, the two-time champions got over the line in the 20th over.
Southee and Mavi break Hyderabad’s spine
Sunrisers Hyderabad couldn’t have had a worse start as Wriddhiman Saha was given leg-before-wicket on Tim Southee’s bowling on just the second ball of the innings. Jason Roy did try to organize the innings by playing some delightful shots. However, he fell to Shivam Mavi in the fourth over. Hence, both the openers had left the crease after just 22 balls.
After ending a losing run against Rajasthan Royals last week, it seemed like the 2018 runner-ups had reduced the pressure on their shoulders. However, they were under the cosh again against Kolkata Knight Riders.
All the responsibility was on the skipper, Kane Williamson. The Kiwi hit the right-arm fast-bowler for a couple of boundaries to get himself going. Just when you think that the Hyderabad skipper was about to build the platform for his team’s batting innings, he got run out by Shakib Al Hasan.
With three established batsmen in the dug-out, all the momentum was with the two-time champions. At the halfway mark, the bottom of the table side was struggling. The problems only intensified when Abhishek Sharma got stumped by Dinesh Karthik.
Williamson’s men kept losing wickets at regular intervals as Priyam Garg fell to Varun Chakravarthy after scoring 21 runs off 31 balls. With five overs to go, Jason Holder came to the crease for the late heroics. However, the West Indian could only add two more runs to the total.
Abdul Samad tried to salvage the innings for Hyderabad by hitting a few sixes. However, he too became the victim of Southee. Kane Williamson’s men finished their innings at 115/6.
Gill ensures Kolkata cruise to victory
Kolkata Knight Riders tried to play according to the situation. As they were aware of the low required run-rate, they tried to contain the Hyderabad fast bowlers and express themselves in the latter part of the innings.
However, Williamson’s men hadn’t read the script as Holder and Rashid Khan removed Venkatesh Iyer and Rahul Tripathi respectively. The fall of early wickets made things interesting. Shubman Gill tried to play the anchor innings. At the midway mark, the match hung in the balance with the two-time champions at 44/2.
The opener tried to accelerate with boundaries in the 11th and 12th overs. After that, the right-handed batsman put his team back into the driver seat after hitting consecutive boundaries off Umran Malik. The former Punjab man brought his first IPL fifty of the 2021 season in the 15th over.
Unfortunately, Gill lost his wicket soon after. He made 57 runs off 51 balls. Holder removed Nitish Rana in the 18th over, but it was just a consolation as Morgan’s men clinched victory with two balls to spare.
