Sunrisers Hyderabad gifted Kolkata Knight Riders a five-run win in a crucial IPL match on Thursday due to the irresponsible performance of their batsmen, keeping KKR’s playoff hopes alive. Kolkata Knight Riders, batting first, scored 171 runs for nine wickets amid the fall of wickets with the help of a 61-run partnership between captain Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh. After this his bowlers restricted Sunrisers to 166 for eight in 20 overs.
Shardul Thakur took two wickets by giving 23 runs and Vaibhav Arora took two wickets by giving 32 runs. Varun Chakraborty bowled a brilliant last over to seal the victory for the team. This is KKR’s fourth win of this season and has eight points, while Sunrisers have only six points and their hopes of reaching the playoffs have suffered a setback with this defeat. Sunrisers looked to be heading for victory when skipper Aiden Markram (41 off 40 balls) and Heinrich Klaasen (36 off 20 balls) stitched a 70-run partnership but the tail-enders faced pressure after their dismissals in succession. Could not
At the same time, KKR’s start was also poor. When Rana and Rinku came to the crease, KKR were 49 for three after the powerplay. Rana was dismissed in the 12th over after scoring 42 runs in 31 balls. He hit three fours and three sixes in his innings and gave a respectable score to the team. Wickets kept falling from the other end. Andre Russell and Sunil Narine of the West Indies failed once again. Rinku scored 46 runs in 35 balls and instead of playing an aggressive innings, played with restraint by saving wickets.
KKR got off to a terrible start and opener Rahmanullah Gurbaj could not replicate his performance from the last match against Gujarat Titans. Afghanistan’s 21-year-old Gurbaz was sent to the pavilion by South African fast bowler Marco Jansen on the first ball of the second over. Harry Brook took his catch at mid-on. Five balls later, Venkatesh Iyer also lost his wicket.
In an attempt to play a hook shot to Jansen, he missed and the ball bounced in the air and went into the hands of wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen. India’s fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled economically from the other end, conceding just 12 runs in the first two overs. Karthik Tyagi came to bowl in the fifth over and took the valuable wicket of Jason Roy of England. Mayank Agarwal took his easy catch at short thirdman.
