IPL 10, Eliminator, SRH v KKR Review: Kolkata Knight Riders knock out defending champions in rain marred affair

The stage was set for the all important Eliminator at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders were the two sides that locked horns for a shot at the virtual semi-finals. The winner would have taken it all and the loser would have crashed out of the season. As the things turned out to be, it was the Knight Riders who beat the defending champions to knock them out of the tournament.

After having seen a rain intervention that lasted for almost two and a half hours, the match was cut short to a 6-over run chase. The Kolkata Knight Riders were handed a revised target of 48 to overhaul in 6 overs after the match went underway on Thursday morning after having started on Wednesday evening. Two overs of powerplay was all that KKR had and for the SRH camp, only one bowler could bowl two overs.

Had there been no game after the first innings, the Sunrisers Hyderabad would have advanced through to the next game in the Qualifier 2.

Mini run chase

Surprisingly enough, the Knight Riders did not open with their tried and tested opening duo of Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn. It was Robin Uthappa who opened alongside Lynn in the chase. Lynn (6) started off with a four before edging one to Naman Ojha off the bowling of Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the very first over. On the very next delivery, Bhuvi ran out Yusuf Pathan off his own bowling to set things right for the Sunrisers.

In the next over, Chris Jordan dismissed Uthappa on 1. With 12/3, things looked evenly balanced on the day. However, a steady head Gautam Gambhir then scored an unbeaten 32 off 19 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes to finish things off in style for the Knight Riders. With the win, they have now set up their Qualifier 2 date with Mumbai Indians.

KKR’s bowling

Earlier in the game, it was Gambhir who had won the toss and opted to field first. Sunrisers Hyderabad openers Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner had a decent start to their innings as they added 25 runs for the first wicket. Umesh Yadav bagged the first wicket for KKR as he dismissed Dhawan on 11. Kane Williamson joined Warner at the crease and the two overseas players added a crucial 50 run stand for the second wicket.

However, they failed to pick up pace in their innings. Williamson was dismissed in the 12th over after having struggled for 26 balls for his 24 as Nathan Coulter-Nile bagged his first wicket. A couple of deliveries later, Warner was bowled by Piyush Chawla on 37 that came off 25 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes. Yuvraj Singh (9) became Umesh’s second victim on the day.

Vijay Shankar (22 off 17 balls) and Naman Ojha (16 off 16 balls) played handy cameos to see the Sunrisers manage a decent 128/7 on the board. Nathan Coulter-Nile was the pick of the bowlers with 3/20 to his name. As soon as the innings got over, heavy down pour hit the venue. After 2 hours of wait, the match went underway again with Kolkata Knight Riders set a revised target of 48 in 6 overs.

Brief Scores:

Sunrisers Hyderabad 128/7 in 20 overs (Warner 37, Williamson, 24, Coulter-Nile 3/20, Umesh 2/21)

Kolkata Knight Riders 48/3 in 5.2 overs (Gambhir 32*, Lynn 6, Jordan 1/9, Bhuvneshwar 1/11)