Shah Rukh Khan on Cloud 9 after KKR’s win over SRH in Abu Dhabi

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) made a horrendous start to the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) after the Mumbai Indians (MI) beat them by 49 runs at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. However, on Saturday, September 26, the team, led by Dinesh Karthik, made a stupendous comeback and registered their maiden victory in the ongoing edition of the T20 tournament.

The Men in Gold and Purple managed to beat the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Abu Dhabi by seven wickets. After being put in to bowl first, Karthik’s men restricted the Orange Army to a mere 142 in their 20 overs. Barring David Warner and Manish Pandey, none of the batters could up the ante. Wriddhiman Saha scored 30, but those runs came at less than a run-a-ball.

An all-round performance from KKR

For KKR, Pat Cummins, who gave away 39 runs in his three overs against MI, found his rhythm back. The Australian speedster rattled Jonny Bairstow’s woodwork and gave away only 19 runs in his four overs. Varun Chakravarthy, playing his first match for KKR, also impressed, picking up Warner’s wicket at a critical juncture of a game when the batsman was going well on 36.

Andre Russell got the other wicket of Manish Pandey even as Saha was run out in the 20th over. During the run-chase, KKR lost Sunil Narine early, but Nitish Rana’s 13-ball 26 injected momentum into their innings. Dinesh Karthik fell for a duck to Rashid Khan’s googly. But Shubman Gill’s 70* and Eoin Morgan’s 42* helped the Knight Riders over the finishing line.

The duo put on an unbeaten 92-run stand for the fourth wicket and KKR chased the target down with 12 balls to spare. They are currently placed fifth in the points table. In the meantime, Shah Rukh Khan, KKR’s team owner, was over the moon. In his congratulatory post, he tagged Gill, Rana, Mavi and Nagarkoti, who made his IPL debut for the Knights after missing two seasons.

He took to Twitter and wrote, “Was happy that all the kids in the team got a good match and ended up on the winning side. @RealShubmanGill @NitishRana_27 @ShivamMavi23 #Nagarkoti ( be healthy) welcome #Varun and the big guys of @KKRiders u r awesome for looking after them.”

Here’s the tweet: –