Nitish Rana and Andre Russell. Image Source: Twitter |
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) pulled off a stunning victory in a nail-biter match against Sunrisers Hyderabad(SRH). Nitish Rana with his brilliant knock of 68 off 47 set the stage for a famous victory in the last over. It was the carnage of Andre Russell— 49 off 19— which took KKR to their first victory. Russell and Shubman Gill stitched a partnership of 65 off 25 for the fifth wicket.
With 64 needed off 27 it was all upto young Gill and Andre Russell. Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled a tight 17th over, conceding only six runs. However, in the next over of Kaul, Russell slammed 18 runs. The equation was now down to 34 off 12 balls, and with Russell in the middle, anything was possible. The pressure was on SRH now, with Bhuvneshwar's final over going for 21. KKR needed 13 off 6 now. Russell was seen struggling with the spinners, and with Shakib Al Hasan bowling the last over, it seemed a bit difficult. This is when Gill got in the party, slamming two sixes and taking KKR home.
Shakib Al Hasan struck in his very first over, getting the big wicket of Chris Lynn for 7. Nitish Rana and Robin Uthappa built a partnership of 80 runs for the second wicket. However, the SRH bowlers— who were the most economical in IPL 2018— made the job tough for them. The increase in required run-rate created pressure for the batsmen, resulting the wicket of Uthappa for 35. After being dropped before, Uthappa was clean bowled by Siddarth Kaul in the 12th over.
Dinesh Karthik too had a short time at the crease, as he was out for 2 in the very next over by Sandeep Sharma. It was clear that Sandeep was the most targeted bowler of all, with Rashid Khan creating pressure from the other end. Sandeep gave away 42 runs in his spell of 4 overs with an high economy of 10.50. All eyes were then on Rana, who was well set in the middle. But the interruption due to floodlights broke his momentum, cost him his wicket off Rashid Khan.
SRH, who are known for their bowling attack will need to work more on their death bowling going ahead in the IPL.
Scorecard: KKR 183 for 4 in 19.4 overs (Nitish Rana 68, Andre Russell 49; Rashid Khan 4-0-26-1) win against SRH 181 for 3 in 20 overs (David Warner 85, Vijay Shankar 40*; Andre Russell 3-0-32-2) by 6 wickets.
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