Press Trust of India
Hyderabad, April 16: Brilliant bowling by the pace duo of Umesh Yadav and Morne Morkel, followed by skipper Gautam Gambhir’s superb half century, powered Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR) to a comprehensive eight-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad(SRH) in their IPL match here Saturday.
The Knight Riders took early control by reducing the Sunrisers to 50 for four in 10 overs before Eoin Morgan led the fight-back with a breezy half ton to help the hosts, who elected to bat first, reach a respectable 142 for seven in their allotted 20 overs.
The visiting team made a fantastic start in the run-chase with openers Robin Uthappa (38, 34b, 3×4, 1×6) and Gambhir (90 n o, 60b, 13×4, 1×6) putting on 92 runs for the first wicket.
There was no stopping the Knight Riders charge after the fine start and they reached the target in 18.2 overs with Gambhir remaining unconquered.
Opting to bat, the Sunrisers lost four of their top five batsmen with only 50 runs on board, including that of skipper David Warner’s (13) wicket. They were revived by Morgan(51, 43b, 3×4, 2×6) and Naman Ojha (37, 28b, 2×4, 2×6) as the duo put on a solid fifth wicket stand of 67 runs together off just 47 deliveries to take the team to a respectable total.
Pace duo of Umesh (3/28) and Morkel (2/35) did their job to perfection as they ran through the Sunrisers top order. Out-of-form opener Shikhar Dhawan (6) was the first to depart in the third over when KKR wicketkeeper Uthappa took a smart catch off Morkel’s bowling.
Brief scores
SRH 142/7(Eoin Morgan 51; Umesh Yadav 3/28) lost to KKR 146/2(Gautam Gambhir 90 n o) by eight wickets.
