Kolkata Knight Riders 146 for 2 (Gambhir 90, Uthappa 38) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 142 for 7 (Morgan 51, Ojha 37, Umesh 3-28) by eight wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Gautam Gambhir smashed his 28th IPL fifty, his second in succession © BCCI
With an attack in which Piyush Chawla was the sixth bowling option, Kolkata Knight Riders stamped their authority on Sunrisers Hyderabad to keep them to 142 and then hunt it down with eight wickets in hand. The game was set up by incisive spells from Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav, who hit good lengths and used the cutters effectively to prise out the top three within the Powerplay. In the chase of 143, Gautam Gambhir struck his 28th IPL fifty, his second in succession to help Knight Riders to the target with 10 balls to spare.
Sunrisers’ innings began in disastrous fashion after they chose to bat. David Warner, who averaged 63.10 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, miscued a pull to square leg off Morne Morkel, who was playing his first T20 game since August 2015. However, Warner was reprieved as replays showed he overstepped. The luck did not last long, though.
The situation got worse when Deepak Hooda holed out to long-on in the 10th over with the score at 50. Gambhir saw a chance and used Sunil Narine, bowling with a remodelled action, in a way he rarely has. Narine bowled four overs in a spell in the middle, but did not extract much purchase.
Eoin Morgan and Naman Ojha nudged him around, but ensured they laid onto any opportunity. Five boundaries, including two lofted fours over cover from Morgan off Narine, between overs 11 and 15 helped yield 42, setting a platform for a competitive total. As his innings progressed, Morgan converted from deft touch to muscular strokes in front of the wicket as he accrued 51, his fourth IPL fifty.
It required an athletic moment of brilliance from Andre Russell to remove Ojha. Running around from long-on, Russell held onto a one-handed stunner but parried the ball to Piyush Chawla as his momentum carried him over the boundary. Sunrisers mustered 142, and their bowlers needed a special performance to get close.
They did not get it as the Knight Riders openers, Gambhir and Robin Uthappa, made a solid start. In the first ten overs, the pair found a boundary in every over, save two. More than half the runs, 72, were scored and Knight Riders had all their wickets in hand. Then, Gambhir used swift footwork against Karn Sharma’s legspin for three fours in succession to bring the equation down to a run-a-ball.
However, two wickets in the space of eight balls gave Sunrisers some hope. First, Uthappa was trapped in front off Ashish Reddy and then Russell, promoted to no. 3, was undone by an inch-perfect yorker by Mustafizur Rahman that uprooted the middle and leg stumps.
More to follow..
Nikhil Kalro is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo