Kolkata Knight Riders qualified for the playoff stages by beating Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 54th match of VIVO IPL 2018 played at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad. SRH captain won the toss and batted first. Shikhar Dhawan, Goswami, Kane Williamson scored runs but wickets fell at regular intervals to post a decent total. Chasing, Lynn, Narine, Uthappa and Karthik helped KKR to win the match.
Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to bat first. Sreevats Goswami and Shikhar Dhawan started on an aggressive note putting pressure on KKR bowlers. At the end of 6 overs, SRH scored 60 for 0. After the power play overs, Goswami was dismissed for 35 off 26 balls. Both of them added 79 runs for opening wicket.
Kane Williamson came to the crease and attacked the Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers with aggressive stroke play. Shikhar Dhawan continued his brilliant form scoring half-century off 38 balls. Searles dismissed dangerous Kane Williamson for 36 off 17 balls. Prasidh Krishna dismissed well set Dhawan for 50 runs.
Kolkata Knight Rider’s bowlers pulled the run rate back with wickets at regular intervals. Manish Pandey scored 25 off 22 balls. Prasidh Krishna bowled a brilliant last overtaking 3 wickets and also 1 run out. Sunrisers Hyderabad posted 172 for 9 in 20 overs. For Kolkata Knight Riders, Prasidh Krishna was the pick of bowlers with 4 for 30.
Chasing 173, Kolkata Knight Riders openers Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine gave the team a flying start with aggressive hitting. It was a great batting display by both openers who attacked the SRH bowlers. Both of them added 52 runs in 3.4 over’s to give a strong foundation. KKR scored 66 for 1 at the end of 6 overs.
After the power play overs, both batsmen continued their aggressive batting. Chris Lynn completed his half-century off 36 balls. Chris Lynn was dismissed for 55 runs. Both Lynn and Uthappa added 67 runs for the 2nd wicket.
Robin Uthappa played some wonderful strokes and was dismissed for 45. Dinesh Karthik played a cameo knock remaining not out on 26 off 22 balls. KKR won the match by 5 wickets with 2 balls to spare.
KKR 173 for 5 in 19.4 overs ( Chris Lynn 55, Robin Uthappa 45, Dinesh Karthik 26*, S Kaul 2/26, Carlos Braithwaite 2/20) beat
SRH 172 for 9 in 20 overs ( Shikhar Dhawan 50, Kane Williamson 36, Goswami 35, Prasidh Krishna 4/30) by 5 wickets.
KKR captain Dinesh Karthik said: It was a great team performance by our boys. The way SRH batsmen were going, we were looking at the score of above 200. Krishna bowled brilliantly and restricted the run flow of SRH. Very happy to qualify for the playoff stages and hope to continue the brilliant run.
SRH captain Kane Williamson said: A few more runs would have been handy. We were on course for a big total of 200 but credit to KKR they picked wickets and also stem the flow of runs. We needed one more partnership to score runs above 200 runs. With playoffs stages coming up, need to back our strengths.
Man of the match Chris Lynn said: We are building momentum nicely. It was a good wicket to bat on. The way we are gaining confidence and hoping we do well in the playoff stage. SRH batsmen were looking good to score 200 or above but our bowlers did a brilliant job to restrict them to 172. Business coming and not going to change about our style of play.
The last league matches will see Mumbai Indians take on Delhi Daredevils at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, New Delhi and the second match would be between Kings XI Punjab versus Chennai Super Kings at Pune.
