The Kolkata Knight Riders start their IPL 2021 campaign with a fine win against a strong Sunrisers Hyderabad side. The batsmen of both sides on a challenging pitch splendidly and provided a lot of fireworks. Batting first Kolkata Knight Riders notched up 187 all thanks to a classical knock by Nitish Rana who came out to open the innings. The Southpaw smashed the bowling of Sunrisers Hyderabad from ball one and eventually made 80 runs from 56 deliveries.
The most successful bowler for SRH was once again Rashid Khan who picked 2 crucial scalps and gave away just 24 runs. The SRH began in the worst possible manner as they lost their skipper David Warner very early for mere 3 runs. After that, it was up to Johnny Bairstow to play a counter-attacking knock and keep SRH in the run chase. He did just that 55 from 40 deliveries but at the other end, Manish Pandey failed to get going when the asking rate kept mounting.
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Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad-Who Said What?
Eventually, SRH fell short of the target by 10 runs even after a late blitz by Abdul Samad. Here’s what the winning captain Eoin Morgan and losing skipper David Warner said in the post-match presentation.
“I didn’t think there were that many runs on this wicket. They adapted really well, had a good partnership. We failed to execute the first ball of most overs and then conceded a lot at the end. We lost early wickets, and Jonny and Manish got us in a good position, so we had our chances. The dew made a difference. If the bowlers overpitched, it was easy to hit it, and with the height in their team, and with the cross-seam, it stopped a little bit on us. We would like to have won the first game, but we have four more games at this venue and hopefully we will get used to the square and the dimensions of this ground”, said Warner.
“Delighted. Build up to the tournament has been pretty good. In the camp that we had pre-tournament, the guys gelled well. Never quite sure what performance they will produce. Today was quite magnificent the way the guys batted. Guys at the top of the order. Nitish and Tripathi were absolutely outstanding and set up the game for our middle order to play in the manner we want to play. Certainly the bowling, we couldn’t have asked for a better start. Chopped and changed a bit in the powerplay”, said Morgan.
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“I thought the ball was in my slot (first ball, off Bhuvneshwar) and luckily I got a four. My game-plan is always that if the ball is in my slot I’ll try to hit it. I was backing myself and looking to hit balls. I’ve been playing spin since childhood, so in a way, it’s in my blood”, said player of the match Nitish Rana.
