RANA-WAY VICTORY
Nitish slams 56-ball 80 as Knights gallop to their 100th IPL win
Riding on Nitish Rana’s brilliant 80, Kolkata Knight Riders galloped to their 100th IPL win here at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday. Kolkata got the better of Sunrisers by 10 runs.
Chasing 188, Sunrisers had a disastrous start as they lost both their openers, David Warner and Wridhiman Saha, early. When they were wobbling at 10 for two, Manish Pandey and an in-form Jonny Bairstow put on a vital stand.
While the Englishman Bairstow counterattacked, Manish provided the solidity from the other end.
KKR pacer Pat Cummins snapped the partnership at 92 by dismissing Bairstow (55 off 40). Kolkata had the upperhand when Sunrisers needed 69 off last five overs. But Manish’s stay in the middle gave Hyderabad a glimmer of hope. The equation was reduced from 44 off 18 to 38 off 12. Then came a fearless teenager Abdul Samad who clubbed KKR’s premier pacer Pat Cummins for two sixes in the penultimate over to make it 22 off 6. However, Andrew Russell’s brilliant final over ensured Kolkata had the last laugh. Manish remained unbeaten on 61.
Earlier, openers Shubman Gill and Rana got KKR off to a decent start, putting on 53 runs. T. Natarajan and Sandeep Sharma found it difficult to Rana-Gill at bay as the duo made 50 runs in powerplay.
Afghan leg-spinner Rashid Khan who was introduced in the seventh over gave Sunrisers’ the much-needed breakthrough by removing Gill. Rashid’s wrong'un crashed into Gill’s offstump. Rana raced to his 12th IPL fifty in 37 balls, reaching the landmark by pulling a short ball off Vijay Shankar for a six over deep backward square-leg boundary.
Barring Rashid, Sunrisers bowlers looked below par.
Rahul Tripathi scored his fifty in 28 balls and added 93 off 50 balls with Rana to set up a perfect platform for his team’s big hitters. However, they couldn’t make full use of it as Eoin Morgan and Andre Russel fell for single digit scores. It was another Afghan spinner Mohammad Nabi who removed Rana and Morgan off consecutive balls before Rashid dismissed the dangerous Russell.
As KKR slumped to 160 for five from a commendable position of 146 for one, their hopes of touching the 200-run mark suffered a big blow. If not for Dinesh Karthik’s unbeaten 22 off 9 balls, KKR wouldn’t have made a competitive total.
Rana, who was adjudged the man of the match, said: “I thought the ball was in my slot (first ball, off Bhuvneshwar) and luckily I got a four. My game-plan is always that if the ball is in my slot I’ll try to hit it. I was backing myself and looking to hit balls. I’ve been playing spin since childhood, so in a way, it’s in my blood.”