Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won an epic encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and that too by only 4 runs as there was drama at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Harshit Rana, the lethal speedster against all the odds defended 13 runs for KKR. Harshit Rana didn’t panic even when SRH needed 7 runs to win from 5 balls as later his variations were quite hard to pick for the batters.
Heart-break for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) as Harshit Rana bowls KKR to victory
SRH got off to a decent start while chasing 209 runs as they scored 65 runs in the powerplay overs for the loss of 1 wicket. The introduction of the spinners put brakes on the scoring run rate. The likes of Aiden Markram & Rahul Tripathi couldn’t convert their starts which hurt the team immensely as the SRH at one stage where reduced to 111 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in 12.5 overs.
Heinrich Klaasen played a mind-boggling knock of 63 runs in 29 balls and in the 19th over, he smashed 3 sixes to Mitchell Starc and brought down the equation to 13 runs to win in the last over. Heinrich Klaasen showed to the world cricket that you should never give up as Mitchell Starc had a forgettable outing who conceded 53 runs in his 4 over spell.
Andre Russell’s brutal hitting
KKR had a forgettable start to their batting after being asked to bat first by SRH. KKR were in a spot of bother at 119 for 6 wickets inside 14 overs and it seemed that the orange army would close out the innings very quickly. Andre Russell though had other plans who whacked the bowlers all around the park and scored 64 runs in his 25 balls and struck 7 breath taking sixes and 3 fours. It seemed as if Russell was batting on a different track as he took KKR’s total to a massive 208 runs for the loss of 7 wickets.
What lies ahead for KKR & SRH
KKR though would be aware of the fact that they almost made the mess of the match as they should have won the match by at-least 15-20 runs as later Net Run rate (NRR) would come into equation. It won’t be wrong to say that KKR will have to reconsider their bowlers at the death overs as Mitchell Starc’s variations weren’t that effective by any means.
SRH on the other hand would be ruing that the fact that they came so close but lost the match. The likes of Rahul Tripathi perhaps should open the batting along with Mayank Agrawal which gives him more time to get accustom to the conditions and then he can create a massive impact and play an efficacious knock for the team.