Sun rises in the east as SRH thrash KKR by 65 runs to post their first victory of the season

Two partnerships defined the course of the IPL match between Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Eden Gardens on Thursday night.

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A smashing 82-run opening stand off just 34 balls between openers Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head laid the solid foundation for SRH. Another 82-run stand for the fifth wicket between Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy sealed the fate of hosts Kolkata Knight Riders as SRH ran up a strong 226 for eight.

KKR began in a flash but fizzled out quickly as they were never in the hunt to end up with 161 and hand out a 65-run victory to their rivals. In the process, the script went awry as, for the first time in six matches, the chasing team failed to reach the target.

Travis and Abhishek set the tone for SRH

Sent into to bat, Travis Head smashed six fours and three sixes as he made 46 off 21 balls and Abhishek Sharma faced the same number of balls but made two more runs than his partner with four boundaries and an equal number of sixes.

After the duo fell, there as a slight slump as SRH lost two quick wickets to be reduced to 118 for four in 9.2 overs.  But the blistering early pace gave Klaasen and Nitish the chance to rebuild the innings without losing much in the process. Their partnership put SRH back on the top.

Klaasen and Nitish steal the game away

Klaasen made a fluent 35-ball 52 in his characteristic style. Nitish was quicker with a 24-ball 39 and the duo took the game away from their rivals. Klaasen and Nitish Kumar’s 82-run partnership is SRH’s highest for the 5th wicket in IPL, breaking the record of 79 between Yusuf Pathan and Williamson.

Blessing Muzarabani was once again among the wickets for the Knight Riders, as he picked up four for 41.

The hosts were off the block quickly with Finn Allen smashing 28 off seven balls but it was too good to last. Harsh Dubey had the last laugh as he had Allen caught and bowled and, thereafter, KKR were never in the hunt.

Ajinkya Rahane, unlike in the previous game, failed to get going. He hardly hit a ball from the middle of the bat. Angkrish Raghuvanshi was the only one who looked to take the fight to the rival camp. The wicketkeeper-bat took 29 balls and made 52 with six fours and two sixes before he was run out. That virtually ended the chase. The batter does need to work on his running between the wickets as he was involved in a couple of mix-ups in the middle.

Unadkat shoulders the responsiblity

Rinku Singh made 35 but never really threatened to take down the SRH bowlers.  KKR were bowled out for 161 in 16 overs. Jaydev Unadkat took three for 21, while Eshan Malinga bagged two for 14. Nitish capped a fine day with a two for 1 haul.

Jaydev Unadkat delivered the goods with the ball as SRH shut out KKR. Pics: BCCI

“Yeah, I thought we needed a couple of big partnerships. Guys who were set needed to take it deep. With the ball I thought we came back really well. In batting, when you are chasing a target, you need that partnership but we didn’t get that. I felt the ball was slightly stopping in the second innings. Slower balls were gripping a lot more than first innings. We thought the wicket would get better but it got slower. But not making excuses. SRH did good use of the slower balls and the angles they used were really good. Winning home games is really important so we have to go back to the drawing room and think about our combination, if we need an extra batter. But we don’t need to think too much. Just one bad day,” said Rahane.

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Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 226 for eight in 20 overs (Travis Head 46, Abhishek Sharma 48, Heinrich Klaasen 52, Nitish Kumar Reddy 39; Blessing Muzarabani 4/41, Vaibhav Arora 2/47) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 161 in 16 overs (Finn Allen 28, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 52, Rinku Singh 35; Jaydev Unadkat 3/21, Eshan Malinga 2/14, Nitish Kumar Reddy 2/17).