KKR bowlers choke SRH in rainhit tie
CoulterNile and Umesh Yadav shine as Kolkata beat Sunrisers by 7 wickets to set up Qualifier 2 vs MI
Knight Riders beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets in a rain-marred match as they chased down a reduced 48-run target in 5.2 overs in their eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Batting first, Sunrisers Hyderabad could manage just 128 for the loss of seven wickets at the end of their innings. Kolkata Knight Riders will now take on Mumbai Indians in the second qualifier on Friday.
The Knights were in a spot of bother early on during their chase though --- losing three wickets in the space of six deliveries. Chris Lynn (7) was the first to depart, edging one behind after hitting a six before Yusuf Pathan returned on a golden duck following a mix-up with Robin Uthappa (1) at the other end. The former champions seemed desperate to chase down the paltry total quickly and were having a go at everything, the result of which saw Uthappa getting caught in the deep.
That brought Ishank Jaggi (5) out in the middle and the Jharkhand lad stood calmly beside his skipper to see his side cross the line comfortably.
Gambhir led from the front with 32 runs, including two fours and two sixes. It was in the eliminator stage last season that KKR had to bow out to the eventual champions SRH.
Earlier, a terrific bowling display from Kolkata Knight Riders restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad to just 128 runs for the loss of seven wickets. Nathan CoulterNile was the star for KKR as he picked three wickets giving away just 20 runs in his four overs.
Kolkata Knight Riders were off to a tidy start with Umesh Yadav (2/21) and Trent Boult keeping things tight against the explosive opening pair of David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan. The frustration bore fruit for KKR in the fifth over with Dhawan (11) skying one off Yadav only to be caught by the wicketkeeper.
The defending champions put up 30 runs at the end of the powerplay before Warner (37) and Williamson (24) started to free their arms. Warner greeted Piyush Chawla with a six in his first over while Williamson picked up a boundary and a six against Nathan Coulter-Nile. The duo put on 50 runs off 45 balls for the second wicket but just when it seemed the two were about to take on the opposition, both Warner and Williamson were dismissed in the space of three deliveries.
Nathan Coulter-Nile then capped off his impressive performance with a brilliant penultimate over — picking up the wickets of Vijay Shankar and Chris Jordan — while giving away just three runs. Boult then gave away just six in the last over while picking up the wicket of Naman Ojha as showers came back on during the last couple of deliveries.