Kolkata Knight Riders won by 7 wickets against Sunrisers Hyderabad and picks up first win of the season. Sunrisers Hyderabad lost their second game in row and they will remain only team without a win.
David Warner won the toss and elected to Bat first. But Pat Cummins and Knight Riders bowling proved Warner’s decision is wrong, Bairstow fell to Cummins early in 4th over for just 5 runs. Dinesh karthik did a wonderful job by bringing in key bowlers early to put pressure on Hyderabad’s top order.
Sunrisers never had momentum in their batting, Warner 36 from 30 and Saha 30 from 31 not able to accelerate the innings even after getting good starts. Only Manish Pandey managed to score half-century,51 runs from 38 balls.
With just little above 7 runs needed to win the game, Kolkata never felt pressure to score from get go. Though they lost Sunil Narine and Captain Dinesh Karthik for ducks, man of the match winner Shubman Gill (70 runs from 62 balls) and Eoin Morgan (42 runs from 29 balls) helped the team to achieve the target 143 in 18th over.
Shubman Gill, Man of the Match:
“I think the ball wasn’t spinning that much and it’s easier to hit down the ground. I’ve practiced a lot in the past couple of years, the power hitting. I think it was really important for our team to get this win. We bowled really well, it had to be backed by our batting performance. [Morgan] was batting so well. There weren’t any long conversations. As an opener it is my job to see the team through.”
Dinesh Karthik, Captain of KKR :
“I think it’s always good to get on the board. Been working hard and guess we deserve it. I think for us the advantage is having allrounders. Privileged to have them so might as well use them whenever I can. The fact that we’ve been able to groom youngsters, we’ve stayed with them. Was a bit emotional for Kamlesh. We stuck with him and people ask where he is. It feels good as a captain. I want to make sure Gill is having an easy journey with no pressure. I think McCullum is very clear that the best batters bat at the top of the order, I just need to get some runs.”
Morgan:
“Yeah nice feeling, good to get the first win, some momentum and confidence. Today the bowlers really did dominate for us against a strong Sunrisers batting line-up. I didn’t have to tell Gill a great deal to be honest, beautiful to watch. Lovely, languid. He’s a good kid, he’s quite hungry to learn regardless of his successes. [The pitches] I think a little bit indifferent. I don’t think we can be fixated by one pitch. Moving through the tournament, conditions will change given the nature of the heat.”
Warner, Captain of SRH:
“I got my decision right, I think. For us, the strength is death bowling. I think it was a hard wicket to accelerate on. I don’t regret what I did at the beginning of the game, stand by my decision. Cummins as he does, test match line and length. If you prresent a good seam, you get value out of the wicket. I think in the middle we went four or five overs with 20. Probably killed us a little there. An extra 30-40 runs would have been great. We’re going to have to try and go a little harder at the top. Can’t help it if the bowlers are bowling good lines and lengths. Got to lift our boundary lengths. I saw 35-40 dot balls, which is unacceptable. [Pandey going off] not sure to be honest, hopefully bit of a cramp.”
