The Sunrisers Hyderabad’s resurgence continued with a huge win over the second-placed Kolkata Knight Riders, as the Orange Army won at a canter in a game that they completely dominated in all departments.
Kolkata were trounced, as their top-order batsmen were kept relatively quiet, before their bowling was completely torn apart by the likes of former KKR man Rahul Tripathi and Proteas international Aiden Markram. The duo each got quick-fire half-centuries as they took their side to a comprehensive seven-wicket victory, making it three wins in the last three games for the 2016 champions.
Kolkata were sitting second prior to the encounter at the Brabourne Stadium and were hoping for a win to go to the top of the standings, but instead have dropped to fourth after taking a massive hit to their net-run rate, which was only barely ahead of Rajasthan Royals. The Knight Riders’ bowling was clueless, as Tripathi and Markram made short work of what was otherwise a fighting total.
Hyderabad skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and decided to field first. His decision proved to be fruitful, as Australian white-ball captain Aaron Finch departed in the very second over for a score of just seven. Venkatesh Iyer could not stick around much longer either, playing 13 balls for a score of only six. Shreyas Iyer looked good to begin with, a characteristic quality of his of late, starting off with a couple of boundaries.
However, KKR captain too could not make it big, as a beautiful set-up by Umran Malik, followed by a lightning-quick yorker castled Iyer, much to the delight of the young pacer. The decision to promote Sunil Narine up the order failed miserably, as the pinch-hitting left-hander fell on the second ball after hitting the first for six. Sheldon Jackson was dismissed for a single-digit score, which brought Nitish Rana and Andre Russell together in the middle.
At 103/5, Kolkata were in trouble when the West India international walked in. With Rana playing an excellent hand at the other end, the marauder Russell joined in as he victimised the Sunrisers bowlers towards the end of the innings.
Rana was excellent as well, scoring six boundaries and two maximums to reach his much-deserved half-century, shortly after which he was dismissed. Russell, however, carried on till the very end, scoring an unbeaten 49* in just 25 deliveries, including four fours and four sixes to take his side to a fighting total of 175/8.
The Sunrisers’ chase did not start on an ideal note as well, as promising opener Abhishek Sharma was unable to get going before getting bamboozled by a Pat Cummins delivery. Williamson did not do too well either, as he also fell, chopping a Russell delivery back onto his stumps. The two early wickets did get the Knight Riders excited, but it was not going to be their day, as Rahul Tripathi showed his class early on, smashing Varun Chakravarthy for a boundary and two beautiful sixes over the extra cover region, making his intentions clear.
Markram did not attack much, to begin with, as Tripathi did all the damage. Tripathi accelerated the Sunrisers batting, scoring a barrage of boundaries, on his way to a half-century, after his finishing cameo in the last SRH game. Along with Markram, he got SRH to the precipice of victory before falling for a brilliant 71 in just 37 balls. Markram upped the scoring rate post Tripathi’s dismissal, scoring a number of boundaries, to take SRH ever closer to victory.
Markram completed his half century off 31 balls towards the end of the chase. To finish matters off for his side, Markram smashed Cummins for two massive sixes as Nicholas Pooran watched on from the other end.
Brief scores
Sunrisers Hyderabad 176 for 3 (Tripathi 71, Markram 68*, Russell 2-20) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 175 for 8 (Rana 54, Russell 49*, Natarajan 3-37) by seven wickets
