SRH v KKR Match Report: KKR claim their first win of the season.

Kolkata Knight Riders kicked off their IPL campaign with a 10 run win against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Chennai. SRH is still looking for their first win at Chepauk.

Earlier SRH captain David Warner won the toss and chose to bowl. Harbhajan Singh debuted for KKR in this match. Kane Williamson, Lockie Ferguson, and Kuldeep Yadav were benched. Nitish Rana and Shubhman Gill opened the innings for KKR.

KKR completed 50 runs without losing a single wicket due to Rana and Gill’s brilliant partnership. In this partnership, Rana scored 35 runs from 25 balls including 4 fours, while Gill scored 15 runs from 12 balls including 1 four and 1 six.

In the 7th over, the very well-known wicket-taker Rashid Khan came in to bowl and bowled Gill out, by a googly which Gill completely missed. Gone for 15 from 13. KKR were 54/1 at this point. Rahul Tripathi walked in.

In the 9th over when Rashid Khan was bowling a huge appeal for a wicket was suggested by SRH’s players, followed by the umpire lifting his finger. As soon as he directed out, Rana went for the DRS. The DRS proved that Rana was not out as his bat hit the ball first. KKR were 65/1 at this point.

The last ball of the 10th over bowled by Vijay Shankar, Nitish Rana completed his half-century by hitting a six on 44 runs. He scored 50 from 37 balls including 8 fours and 1 six. Alongside him, Tripathi too kept on scoring runs, from hitting a six on his second ball to running between the wickets with Rana. They both maintained KKR’s run rate. KKR were 83/1 at this point.

By the end of the 12th over, KKR completed 100 runs with Rana scoring 64 runs from 42 balls, including 8 fours and 3 sixes. While Tripathi scored 26 runs from 17 balls including 3 fours and 1 six.

The 15th over was bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar – Rahul Tripathi smashed him for 4,1,6 and hit another 4 by which he completed his half-century in this match. He scored 53 runs from 28 balls including 5 fours and 2 sixes. KKR were 145/1 at this point.

On the 2nd ball of the 16th over, T Natarajan bowled Tripathi a slower one on his legs which Tripathi hit intending for a boundary. But unfortunately, it landed in the hands of Saha. Tripathi scored 53 runs from 28 balls including 5 fours and 2 sixes. KKR were 146/2 at this point. Andre Russel walked in.

In the 17th over, Rashid Khan came in to bowl. In just the 2nd ball of the over, Russell hit the ball hard towards the boundary but Manish Pandey caught it before it could land anywhere else. A splendid catch by Manish Pandey at the long on boundary. Gone for 5 runs from 5 balls including 1 four. Eoin Morgan walked in next.

In the 18th over, Nabi came in to bowl. Rana went for a lofted shot but the effort went all in vain as Vijay Shankar grabbed the ball before it could hit the ground. Rana scored 80 runs from 56 balls including 9 fours and 4 sixes. In the very next ball, Morgan too gave away his wicket right in to the hands of Abdul Samad who timed his jump well at deep square leg. Morgan departed for 2 runs from 3 balls. KKR now lost 2 wickets in 2 balls and rewarded Mohammad Nabi with a chance to achieve a hat-trick. Dinesh Karthik who walked in next denied the SRH all-rounder the hat-trick.

The first ball of the last over of the innings, Karthik hit Bhuvi Kumar for a long 82m six. The next one, a misdirected four. But a boundary nonetheless. The next ball they ran for 2 runs followed by an extra run from Kumar. On the 4th ball they ran for 2 runs again and the 5th one for a single. Shakib was on strike for the last ball. He smashed the ball high for a boundary but didn’t reach his calculated distance. The ball was caught by Abdul Samad. Shakib scored 3 runs from 5 balls while Karthik scored 22 runs from 9 balls including 2 fours and 1 six. KKR scored 187/6 in 20 overs.

Chasing 188 runs to win, SRH sent in Warner and Saha to open. KKR gave the new ball to Harbhajan Singh and he almost got the wicket of David Warner for a duck as the catch was spilled by Pat Cummins diving forward. This was the only over bowled by Harbhajan in this match.

In the very 2nd over of the innings, Prasidh Krishna came and bowled a beautiful length delivery which took an outside edge and was effortlessly caught by Karthik behind the stumps. Gone for 3 runs from 4 balls. SRH were 10/1 at this point. Manish Pandey walked in.

In the 3rd over Shakib came to bowl and the very first ball, a slightly shorter one which Saha entirely missed as the ball got edged onto the stumps. Gone for 7 runs from 6 balls including a six. SRH were struggling 10/2 at this point as Jonny Bairstow walked in at no.4.

SRH completed 50 runs in the 8th over as Bairstow hit a six off Andre Russel’s ball. SRH were 53/2 at this point.

Bairstow and Pandey continued to score runs steadily and by the 8th over they completed their 50 run partnership with Bairstow scoring 30 runs from 17 balls and Pandey scoring 20 runs from 17 balls. SRH were 60/2 at this point.

Bairstow completed his half-century in the 12th over by hitting a six off Varun Chakravarthy’s ball when on 46 runs. He scored 52 runs from 32 balls including 5 fours and 3 sixes. In the very over SRH completed 100 runs.

The last ball of the 13th over, Cummins bowled a short ball which Bairstow tried to cut but it landed straight into Nitish Rana’s hands. Gone for 55 from 40 including 5 fours and 3 sixes. SRH were 102/3 at this point. SRH sent in Mohammad Nabi to bat as the team needed 86 runs to win in 7 overs.

In the last ball of the 16th over Prasidh Krishna dismissed Nabi by a slower one which was caught by Morgan at covers. Gone for 14 runs from 11 balls including 2 fours. SRH were 131/4 at this point. Vijay Shankar walked in next.

In the 17th over bowled by Varun, Manish Pandey completed his half-century from 37 balls including 2 fours and 2 sixes.

On the last ball of the 18th over bowled by Russel, Shankar hit the ball high in the air but to his disappointment, the ball landed firmly in to the safe hands of Captain Morgan. Gone for 11 from 7 including 1 six. SRH were 150/5 at this point needing 38 more runs to win in 12 balls. Abdul Samad walked in.

Samad got the things moving as he struck 2 sixes off the bowling of Pat Cummins. 16 runs came from the 19th over. 22 runs were needed from the last over and Samad was on strike as Andre Russell was given the last over duties.

Needing 22 runs in 6 balls to win – they ran for a couple of runs off the first ball from Russell. The second ball was actually bowled way too wide outside off but Samad under edged it to the keeper, a much important dot ball for KKR. Samad picked a single off the third ball and Manish came on strike with 19 needed from 3 balls. Manish hit the 4th ball to long-on and could just take a single. This was where they knew they’ve lost the game. The next ball Samad hit towards the covers for a single again and brought Manish on strike. Although they’d already lost, Manish hit a stunning maximum off the last ball of the over and remained not out. He scored 61* from 44 balls including 2 fours and 3 sixes while Samad scored 19* from 8 balls including 2 sixes. A brilliant 20th over by Andre Russell to seal the deal.

KKR won the match by 10 runs.

Match Summary :

Kolkata Knight Riders : 187/6 (20)

Nitish Rana 80 (56)
Rahul Tripathi 53 (29)
Dinesh Karthik 22* (9)

Prasidh Krishna 2/35 (4)
Pat Cummins 1/30 (4)
Andre Russel 1/32 (3)

Sunrisers Hyderabad : 177/5 (20)

Manish Pandey 61* (44)
Jonny Bairstow 55 (40)
Abdul Samad 19* (8)

Rashid Khan 2/24 (4)
Mohammad Nabi 2/32 (4)
T Natarajan 1/37 (4)

Player of the Match : Nitish Rana 80 (56)