Sunrisers have task cut out against resilient Knight Riders
Defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will have their task cut out when they take on a confident Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) square-up at the Eden Gardens here on Saturday.
The David Warner-skippered visitors have looked in good touch in their first three matches albeit succumbing to the guile of Mumbai Indians’ Harbhajan Singh and losing the previous encounter on the road.
Harbhajan, a veteran of 103 Tests and 236 ODIs for India, brought all his experience into play to dish out a miserly spell of four overs conceding just 23 runs with two wickets of SRH captain David Warner and Deepak Hooda.
The timely blow, especially of Warner who was looking good for his polished 49, stalled SRH’S charge as they managed to post 158 in their 20 overs which eventually proved insufficient as Rohit Sharma and co won by four wickets with more than an over remaining. But the reversal has been more of an aberration as SRH showed their class in their victory marchA over Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Lions in thr first two matches.
Against a weakened RCB -who were without the services of captain Virat Kohli, star South African batsman AB De Villiers, and Indian opener KL Rahul -SRH rode a whirlwind 27-ball 62 from seasoned campaigner Yuvraj Singh to post a mammoth 207 batting first, finally scripting a 35-run win.
Captain Warner (76, 45b; 6x4, 4x6) and compatriot Moises Henriques (52, 39b; 6x4, 0x6) made short work of Lions’ modest 135 in their next game onwat to a nine-wicket triumph.
Besides the batsmen, 18-year