SUNRISERS KEPT IN CHECK
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) rode on a superlative show by their bowlers to restrict defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad to 128/7 in 20 overs in their Indian Premier League (IPL) Eliminator clash at a half-empty M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
None of the Hyderabad bats- men could score a half century, with skipper David Warner managing only 37 off 35 balls as the highest score of the innings. Nathan Coulter-Nile (3/20) was the pick of the bowlers while Umesh Yadav (2/21) continued his good show as the two-time IPL champions made the most of the slow Chinnaswamy wicket to keep Warner and company in check.
Coulter-Nile leaked just three runs from the penultimate over with Trent Boult (1/30) allowing just seven in the final over also taking the wicket of Naman Ojha (16) off the final ball. Hyderabad got off to a sedate start, managing just 30/1 in the Powerplay. In-form Shikhar Dhawan (11; 13b; 1x4) skied a rising Umesh delivery for wicket-keeer Robin Uthappa to pouch the ball. Warner, in red-hot form, found the fence just twice in the first six overs with Dhawan pulling Umesh for another boundary before falling to his India teammate couple of overs later.
It took the generally explosive Warner eight overs to hit the first six of the match, punishing a poor Piyush Chawla ball by rocking on to his backfoot and pulling the leg-spinner to deep midwicket. At the halfway stage, the defending champions were 61/1. With Shah Rukh Khan in attendance, the men in purple did well to put a lid on Hyderabad’s run flow. Umesh and Boult bowled brilliantly in the first 10 overs with the pair conceding 16 runs in three overs and 10 runs in two overs respectively.
Fit-again Coulter-Nile looked in good shape too, taking the wicket of New Zealand captain Kane Williamson (24; 26b; 2x4, 1x6) who hit a good length delivery outside off stump straight to Suryakumar Yadav — playing in place of injured Manish Pandey — at extra cover. In the next over, legspinner Piyush Chawla — drafted in for Colin de Grandhomme — scalped the priced wicket of Warner who saw his middle stump uprooted. —