Kolkata Knight Riders defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad by four runs in a closely contested match on Saturday at Eden Gardens with to a brilliant last over from Harshit Rana.
Sunrisers Hyderabad made a game out of chasing 209 against the Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens when Heinrich Klaasen and Shahbaz Ahmed took them out of the deep end. Especially in the 18th and 19th overs, the duo abruptly turned the tables on KKR by smashing 58 runs in 16 balls. But with Klaasen hitting a six off the first ball and SRH needing 13 to win the final over,
In the last over, Rana had other ideas. Henrich Klassen hit 63 runs off just 29 balls, and his combination with Shabaz Ahmed looked like it would be enough to send the visitors home. In the match, the right-arm quick also contributed three wickets.
After that, Harshit Rana dismissed Shahbaz and the South African, giving up just two runs for the remainder of the over. In the end, KKR prevailed by a margin of four runs. Andre Russell also had an outstanding outing for KKR with the bat and the ball in addition to Rana.
Mayank Agarwal and Abhishek Sharma, the impact substitute for Sunrisers Hyderabad, got the Sunrisers off to a good start in the chase of 209 as they cobbled together a 60-run stand that featured eight boundaries and three sixes between them. But then Andre Russell and Harshit Rana both scored to cut SRH to 71 for two.
Phil Salt gave the Kolkata Knight Riders a tremendous start earlier in the game, and then the Andre Russell show came to town. Salt gave the hosts a head start with three consecutive sixes in the second over
Despite getting off to a good start, the SRH batsmen were unable to build on their success and continued to lose wickets in the middle overs which eventually led to their downfall in the end.
After losing four wickets in the first ten overs, KKR was left in a state of confusion. The hosts subsequently took the lead again thanks to a counterattack led by Ramandeep Singh. He scored 35 runs in 17 balls during a 54-run stand with Salt that required just 29 deliveries, hitting four sixes and a four. After Pat Cummins eventually defeated Ramandeep, Salt achieved a half-century. Markande then defeated him on 54 off 40. Andre Russell was sent in to bat with Rinku Singh as a result. Russell finished unbeaten on 64 off 25 after hammering seven sixes and three fours. In just 33 balls, he and Rinku Singh put up an 81-run partnership. In just 15 balls, Rinku scored 23 runs.
Source:HT