Twitter Reactions: Lockie Ferguson's fiery pace bowling wins a thrilling game for KKR against SRH

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) played out a thrilling tie in the match 35 of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). And the Eoin Morgan-led side got over the line courtesy Lockie Ferguson who, playing his first game of the season, picked five wickets (three in regulation four overs and two in the super over) to stun the opposition and deservedly won the Man of the Match award.

Earlier, KKR got off to a decent start after being invited to bat first. The duo of Rahul Tripathi and Shubman Gill added 48 runs in the powerplay. The former looked good during his 16-ball 23 but was castled by T Natarajan. Gill played a little out of character on the day as he tried a little too many shots. It didn’t reap much for him as he crawled to 36 off 37.

Rashid Khan got the better of him in the 12th over and soon Vijay Shankar got the better of Nitish Rana for 29 to leave KKR struggling at 88/3 in the 13th over. Andre Russell’s poor show in the UAE this season continued with Natarajan dismissing. After 15 overs, KKR had only posted 105 runs on the board and this is when the current and former skippers of the team joined hands.

Eoin Morgan and Dinesh Karthik held KKR innings together and took toll of SRH’s inexperienced bowling line-up at the death. The latter batted freely probably only for the second time in the tournament. The likes of Basil Thampi and Natarajan were taken apart in the final four overs with Karthik smashing 29* off just 14 balls. Morgan played a good hand scoring 34 off 23 balls with three fours and a six to his name as KKR posted 163 runs for the loss of five wickets in their 20 overs.

The thrilling chase

Much to everyone’s surprise, SRH sent Kane Williamson to open alongside Jonny Bairstow. The Kiwi batsman got injured while fielding and was given the licence to go after the bowling in the powerplay. He did just that and even after being injured, played some sumptuous strokes scoring 29 off 19 balls. However, the duo missed out on some quick singles and twos.

Bairstow also looked good in the middle as SRH’s ploy worked with the opening duo scoring 57 runs in the powerplay. But once the partnership was broken thanks to Lockie Ferguson, they lost their way. Ferguson was exceptional with the ball, playing his opening match of the season, and nipped out Priyam Garg and Manish Pandey.

In the meantime, Bairstow also misjudged a shot off Varun Chakravarthy and suddenly SRH were 82/4 in the 12th over with a lot to do for the skipper David Warner who had come out to bat at four. KKR’s bowling attack had variety on the day and with Kuldeep Yadav coming into the attack in the 11th over, there was no pace offered in the middle overs for the opposition.

But Warner stayed put not giving up and stitched a 27-run stand with Vijay Shankar who could only take singles during his stay and got out with the team still needing 54 runs. The equation eventually came down to 47 off last four overs with SRH skipper set in the middle with Abdul Samad.

The latter cleared his intentions hitting Pat Cummins for a huge six and the duo churned out 10 runs off Chakravathy’s 17th over. But Lockie Ferguson made it tough for them with a brilliant over next up to end with magical figures of 3/15. Needing 30 runs off last two overs, Shivam Mavi was given the ball in the hand. He didn’t disappoint his skipper either conceding 12 runs only as SRH needed 18 runs off six balls even as Samad got out.

Injured Andre Russell then came on to bowl with a shortened run-up and it almost cost KKR the game in the regulation 40 overs. David Warner took toll of some ordinary bowling hitting three consecutive fours. When two runs were needed off the last ball, he could only get a single as the game went into the super over.

It turned out to be a low-scoring super over due to Ferguson’s heroics as he nipped out both SRH batsmen in just three balls. KKR batsmen gunned down three runs off as many deliveries off Rashid Khan’s bowling without much fuss and registered their fifth win of the season.

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