Abu Dhabi [UAE]: An all-round team performance by Kolkata Knight Riders guided them to a seven-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad here at Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Saturday.
Chasing a paltry target of 143 runs, KKR had a worst possible start with opener Sunil Narine (O) back in the dugout in the very second over.
Nitish Rana then joined Shubman Gill and duo stitched a 37 run stand before T Natarajan dismissed Rana with a beautiful delivery in the fifth over.
Minutes later, Rashid Khan trapped Dinesh Karthik right in front of the stumps in seventh over with KKR reeling at 53/3.
However, Gill and Eoin Morgan had other plans, the duo built an unbeaten 92 run stand without playing a risky stroke to guide their side to a seven-wicket win. Gill smashed 70 runs while Morgan scored a well made 42 from 29 balls.
For SRH, Khaleel, Natarajan, and Rashid picked one wicket each.
Earlier, electing to bat first, Sunrisers had a bad start with opener Jonny Bairstow (5) back in the hut in the fourth over. Pat Cummins went through Bairstow’s defense and rattled his stumps.
Manish Pandey then joined skipper David Warner in the middle. The duo played cautiously and hit boundaries at regular intervals. The duo stitched 35 run stands before Varun Chakravarthy caught Warner (36) off his own bowling in the tenth over.
Manish continued his brilliant batting but Wriddhiman Saha played a slow inning in the middle overs. However, the wicket-keeper batsman stepped down the ground and hit Chakravarthy for six in his last over.
Manish held the innings together for the Sunrisers and completed his fifty in the 17th over. Andre Russell ended Manish’s stint at the crease in the very next over.
Saha got run out trying to convert a single into the double in the last over of the innings. He made just 30 off 31 balls.
Mohammad Nabi tried his best but wasn’t able to leave a mark as SRH posted a meagre total of 142 in their allotted 20 overs.
