Kolkata Knight Riders held there nerve till the last moment to seal a play-off berth in the Indian Premier League in Hyderabad on Saturday, 19 May. Chasing a 173-run target, dominant KKR beat table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad by 5 wickets.
Kolkata got off to a flying start with openers Sunil Narine (29) and Chris Lynn (55) giving KKR the early moment needed against Hyderabad’s brilliant bowling attack. They never looked out of the chase by keeping the scoreboard flowing despite the fall of wickets in the middle overs. Dinesh Karthik played a responsible innings of 26 runs to see KKR through.
With this win, KKR remain third with 16 points after playing their 14 league stage games.
Electing to bat, Sunrisers managed 172/9, riding on Shikhar Dhawan's half century as KKR bowlers led by Prasidh Krishna (4/30) did well in the middle and death overs.
Sunrisers, who were 60/0 after six overs, lost wickets at regular intervals as little-known M Prasidh Krishna (4/30) returned career best figures for the visitors taking three wickets in the last over while Andre Russell (1/31) gave away just seven in the penultimate over while also picking up a wicket.
Kuldeep Yadav (1/35), Sunil Narine (1/23) and Javon Searles (1/24) were all among wickets.
In the last 10 overs, Sunrisers could only manage 80, losing eight wickets after they were 92/1 at the halfway stage.
This is the third straight loss for Kane Williamson’s men who despite the losses occupy the top spot scoring 18 points from 14 games, already assured of a knockout berth.
(With inputs from IANS)
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