Kolkata Knight Riders beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets in Dubai on Sunday, keeping their IPL play-off dreams alive. Young Shubman Gill produced a brilliant half-century after an outstanding bowling performance. KKR used a precise bowling performance to restrict SRH to a below-par 115 for eight, then rode on Gill’s 57 off 51 balls to cruise to victory. With 12 points from 13 games, KKR has maintained its fourth-place position in the standings. With Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals, and Royal Challengers Bangalore having already secured three play-off berths, the race for the fourth and final position is on between KKR, Rajasthan Royals, and reigning champions Mumbai Indians, while Punjab Kings are all but out of the tournament.
Despite defending a low total, the SRH spinners were spot on from the start, as the KKR batsmen battled to force the pace of the play.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jason Holder bowled well in the first few overs, but rookie Umran Malik’s raw speed worried Gill and Nitish Rana (25) in the middle.
Rashid Khan also caused issues for the KKR batters, while Siddharth Kaul’s line and length were incisive, making it difficult for opposition batsmen to open their arms.
Holder and Rashid dismissed Venkatesh Iyer (8) and Rahul Tripathi (7) in quick succession, and Gill and Rana struggled to rotate the strike as the asking rate mounted, with KKR reaching 44 for 2 at the midway mark.
With Rana unable to get going, Gill took it upon himself to break the shackles, and he did so in the 12th over by striking Holder for two boundaries, reducing the equation to 53 off 42 balls.
To ease out the chase, Gill continued his attacking mentality and struck Malik for back-to-back boundaries in the next over. Before the latter flicked one straight to Holder at long-on off Kaul’s bowling, Gill and Rana seemed at ease to seal the chase.
When Rana was dismissed in the 18th over, the match became tense, but Dinesh Karthik (18 not out) and Eoin Morgan (2 not out) finished the chase with two balls to spare.
Earlier, SRH skipper Kane Williamson’s choice to bat first backfired, as the team lost wickets at regular intervals, unable to overcome KKR’s sharp bowling, particularly that of Tim Southee and the spin combo of Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine.
SRH had a poor start to their innings, losing Wriddhiman Saha for a duck in the second delivery, LBW to Southee. They were already out of contention for a play-off berth.
Jason Roy (10) was the next to go, caught by Southee in the fourth over from Shivam Mavi. Williamson (26 off 21) tried to save the innings and looked good before being run out by Shakib Al Hasan with the SRH score at 38 for three in 6.5 overs.
Even though Priyam Garg (21) and Abdul Samad (25) tried to form a partnership after Williamson left, the SRH batters struggled.
Chakravarthy holed out Garg at deep midwicket to Rahul Tripathi, while Jason Holder (2) was bowled by the same bowler in his following over.
In the last five overs, Samad tried his hardest to pump up the pace, hitting three lusty sixes, but he eventually perished in search of quick runs, caught by Southee’s Shubman Gill.
In a 12-run ninth-wicket stand, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (7 not out) and Siddharth Kaul (7 not out) remained undefeated.
Shakib (1/20) and Narine, the spin pair, were outstanding in the middle overs, making life difficult for the SRH batters.
While Narine did not return with any wickets, he was quite economical, finishing with figures of 4-0-12-0. Southee (2/26) split six wickets with Mavi (2/29) and Chakravarthy (2/26).
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