IPL 2019: Match 2, KKR vs SRH – Kolkata Knight Riders Player Ratings

The opening game of the 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League turned out to be a dull and sluggish affair. Despite having two blockbuster sides involved, the fans were largely disappointed with what panned out at Chepauk. Now, the action moved to the Eden Gardens for the second match of the season. The hosts, Kolkata Knight Riders, took on the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the match. Much to the delight of the fans, the KKR vs SRH game provided more runs to cheer!

After having won the toss, KKR opted to bowl first. They went ahead with Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn, Andre Russell, and Lockie Fergusson as their four overseas recruits. On the other hand, team SRH played with David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Shakib Al Hasan, and Rashid Khan.

The KKR bowlers were blown away by the opening duo of Warner and Bairstow. The overseas duo powered SRH to 118 for the first wicket stand in just 73 deliveries. While David Warner top scored with a brilliant 85 off just 53 deliveries, Bairstow played fairly well on debut for his 35-ball 39. The final flourish to the innings was given by Vijay Shankar, who hit an unbeaten 40 off 24 balls to take SRH to 181/3 in their stipulated 20 overs.

In the run chase, wickets fell at one end, but Nitish Rana held the fort for KKR with a timely 68. However, his dismissal only meant that SRH inched closer to a victory. But Andre Russell had other plans. With an unbeaten 49 off 19 deliveries, Russell did the unthinkable yet again to steer his side home. He found an able partner in Shubman Gill, who clobbered two sixes to seal the fate of the match.

Here are the Kolkata Knight Riders Player Ratings for the match:

Nitish Rana – 9/10

Nitish Rana walked in to bat as an opener in the game. This came as a surprise to many who thought they would see Sunil Narine open with Chris Lynn. Before anyone could give their verdict on this move, Rana had the critics grooving to his tunes. The southpaw played exceptionally well for his 68 that came off just 47 deliveries. He hit 8 fours and 3 sixes during his stay at the crease. He anchored the run chase and was only unfortunate to have not ended it for his side.

Chris Lynn – 2/10

Chris Lynn got off to a flying start as usual with a thundering six over long on. Just when the fans thought that they were in for a Lynnsane show at Eden, the Australian succumbed to a Shakib Al Hasan delivery in the second over of the innings. He scored 7 off 11 deliveries.

Robin Uthappa – 7.5/10

Uthappa walked in to bat at number three and had his task cut out. He had to ensure that the team did not lose any more early wickets in the tall chase. He stitched an 80-run stand with Rana as KKR just moved along steadily in the game. Uthappa perished after scoring 35 off 27 balls with 3 fours and a six to his name.

Dinesh Karthik – 2/10

DK had a dismal start to his IPL season. The KKR skipper had the stage set for his abilities to shine. He walked in at a stage when the team needed a final flourish to get over the line. He failed to do so and was sent backpacking on 2. He looked struggling with his decisions early on in the game as well when the SRH openers were playing around with the KKR bowlers.

Andre Russell – 9.5/10

Dre Russ proved to be the match winner for the Knight Riders yet again. With over 50 runs to get in the final three overs, everyone fancied SRH to take this home. But Russell had other plans. He tonked Siddharth Kaul for 19 runs in the 18th over and then bludgeoned 21 runs in the penultimate over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Game. Set. Match. Russell finished with an unbeaten 49 off just 19 deliveries with 4 sixes and 4 fours. Earlier in the game, he bowled 3 overs and conceded 32 runs as he accounted for the big wickets of David Warner and Yusuf Pathan.

Shubman Gill – 7/10

Young Shubman Gill made his IPL debut last season. But it would not be wrong to quote that he has introduced himself at the biggest stage with this game. With 13 needed off the final over, Russell took a single off the first ball to give Gill the strike. Everyone speculated that the youngster would give the strike back to Russell. But Gill had some plans. He hit two sixes off Shakib Al Hasan’s over to finish things off in style for his team. He remained unbeaten on 18 off 10 deliveries.

Sunil Narine – 5/10

The fans did not get to see a lot of Sunil Narine in the match. Narine bowled just 3 overs in the game and failed to pick up a wicket. He looked a tad off-shade as he conceded 29 runs. Later, his services with the bat were not needed as he was not asked to open in the run chase.

Piyush Chawla – 6/10

Piyush Chawla was assigned the role to take the new ball in the match. He bowled in the powerplay and did a fairly reasonable job for his skipper. In the three overs that he bowled, he returned with figures of 1/23. He did not strike in the powerplay though. It was in the 13th over of the game when he came back into the attack to break the opening stand of SRH by dismissing Bairstow in 39.

Kuldeep Yadav – 4/10

Kuldeep Yadav did not have a big role to play in the match. With plenty of bowling options around, Dinesh Karthik rather missed out on a trick by not letting Kuldeep bowl a lot. Kuldeep bowled just two overs, and conceded 18 runs and had no wickets to show under his name.

Prasidh Krishna – 4/10

Prasidh Krishna made it to the playing eleven for the KKR lineup. The Karnataka pacer, who had introduced himself in fine fashion last season for the same team, looked decent in the match. He, however, was no match to the onslaught that David Warner and Jonny Bairstow had in store for the day. He finished with figures of 0/31 in his four overs.

Lockie Ferguson – 4/10

Much like Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Ferguson failed to impress in the match. The Kiwi speedster bowled with sheer pace but was unable to dismantle the SRH batting order. Ferguson leaked 34 runs in his complete quota of four overs and did not get any wicket in the match.

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