Kolkata Knight Riders batsman Gautam Gambhir plays a shot during the
2016 IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad at
the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Uppal in Hyderabad on
Saturday.
Morgan-Naman Ojha combine’s rearguard action proves inadequate for Sunrisers Hyderabad
Helmed by skipper Gautam Gambhir’s unconquered 60-ball
90, Kolkata Knight Riders recorded an emphatic eight-wicket victory over
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Rajiv Gandhi international stadium
here on Saturday night.
Embellished with 13
boundaries and a big hit, the Kolkata captain’s domineering knock saw
his side overhaul the local squad’s 142 for six with 10 balls to spare.
A
sound start to the chase was set up by Robin Uthappa, who picked the
line and gaps cleanly. At the rate of a run-a-ball, the tough-as-teak
opener combined well with his captain in steadily taking down the SRH
attack. Shuffling five bowlers or switching their ends less than half
way through did little to contain the opening charge, which grew
menacing by the minute.
Brightest spot
Although
Ashish Reddy brought about the breakthrough by sending back Uthappa,
the brightest spot by far in the host’s scheme was Mustafizur Rehman.
Not just niggardly but nagging in accuracy, the left-arm speedster left
little room for the batsmen to take liberties. A bootlace bomb from the
Bangladeshi paceman bamboozled Andre Russell completely, wrecking the
West Indian’s woodwork.
That David Warner chose to
bat with the mercury climbing to 44 degrees Celsius at the start was not
surprising. The host didn’t quite cash in on the good fortune from the
toss though.
If the aerial shots were an indication,
Shikhar Dhawan walked on thin ice. One slash at Morkel’s rising and
seaming delivery ballooned but agile stumper Uthappa leapt up to hold
the overhead chance. Fellow-opener Warner didn’t fare much better. A tad
quick on the draw, his prod off Umesh Yadav was promptly picked up by
Suryakumar Yadav, diving forwards at short cover.
Eoin
Morgan had initial hiccups against the spinners but once primed to the
drift even reverse swept Piyush Chawla. Absolutely at home against them
was Naman Ojha, who slog-swept Sunil Narine into the gallery over
mid-wicket.
Their fifth-wicket partnership
prospered. Ojha dominated the strike though, his upper cut off Morkel
sailing into the stands over the third-man signboards. Morgan revealed
his own rope-clearing skills, lofting Shakib Al Hasan over long-off and
Morkel over mid-wicket. Ojha fell presently, smacking Morkel to long-on
where Russell popped the ball back into play and Chawla clutched the
chance.
Soon after Morgan’s half-century, the
left-hander hoisted Umesh wide of long-on, where he was held by Shakib.
The Morgan-Ojha duet lasted a little over half an hour but was worth 67,
restoring respectability to the home side’s cause, which was hardly
helped by the blot of 52 dot balls.
SRH 142/7 (20.0 Ovs)
KKR 146/2 (18.2 Ovs)
Kolkata Knight Riders won by 8 wkts
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