Gambhir lifts KKR to easy win
Kolkata Knight Riders beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in the eighth match of the Indian Premier League on Saturday, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. KKR chased down 143 with 10 balls to spare, reports IPL.com.
The Sunrisers won the toss and opted to bat. The host team lost a few early wickets, starting with Shikar Dhawan, who got out after a smooth catch by Robin Uthappa. The Sunrisers were down four wickets by the 10th over. Eoin Morgan and Naman Ojha helped the team finish their innings with a mediocre score of 142/7.
KKR got off to a strong start with openers Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa making 92 runs in the first 12 overs. Captain Gambhir had said on Friday that he was confident of his team winning against the Sunrisers. He was the highest scorer of the match, with 90 of 60 balls.
In the chase of 143, Gautam Gambhir struck his 28th IPL fifty, and his second in succession, to help Knight Riders to the target with 10 balls to spare.
Sunrisers innings began in disastrous fashion after they chose to bat. David Warner, who averaged 63.10 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium before this match, miscued a pull to square leg off Morkel, who was playing his first T20 game since August 2015. However, Warner was reprieved as replays showed Morkel overstepped. The luck did not last long, though.
It required a moment of athletic brilliance from Andre Russell to remove Ojha. Running around from long-on, Russell held onto a one-handed stunner and parried the ball to Piyush Chawla as his momentum carried him over the boundary. Sunrisers mustered 142, and their bowlers needed a special performance to get close.
Sunrisers saw a ray of hope when they took two wickets in the space of eight balls. First, Uthappa was trapped in front by Ashish Reddy and then Russell, promoted to no. 3, was undone by an inch-perfect yorker from Mustafizur Rahman that uprooted the middle and leg stumps.
