SRH Eliminated KKR To Face Gujarat Lions In Second Qualifier!!

Kolkata Knight Riders have been two times champion of IPL but this season’s trophy was not meant for them as Sunrisers Hyderabad eliminated KKR by 22 runs in the eliminator match at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium on Wednesday.

KKR won the toss and opted to bowl first. With an impressive show of bowling, KKR restricted Sunrisers to 162/8.

Sunrisers were off to a decent start as their openers skipper David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan set foot on the ground. Shikhar Dhawan was sent back in the second over when he was playing at 10. Warner resurrected the innings with incoming batsman Moises Henriques and took the team to 43 runs in the powerplay.

Both the batsmen were pouncing easily and raising runs for the team. Henriques smashed 31 runs off 21 balls with 1 four and two sixes but he was brilliantly caught and bowled by Kuldeep Yadav in the 10th over of the game.

Hyderabad was struggling to score runs after Henriques they lost Warner who made 28 runs off 28 balls for the team. The team was playing at 71/3 after 10 overs. Yuvraj and Deepak Hooda came to bat and took charge to smash some high touching shots. There attacking mode benefitted SRH as Yuvraj smashed 44 runs off 30 balls with 8 fours and 1 six.

Deepak Hooda also contributed with 21 runs off 13 balls for the team. Both the batsmen helped the team to pass the 100-run mark at the start of the 15th over.

The partnership of Hooda and Yuvraj was milking runs for Hyderabad before Hooda got run out in the 16th over. Aussie all-rounder Cutting came to bat but failed to score as Yadav sent him back in the 17th over.

Naman Ojha joined Yuvraj and the duo added 21 runs for the team before Yuvraj was bowled by Jason Holder. All-rounder Bipul Sharma came and smashed a couple of sixes in the last over for Hyderabad.

Hyderabad posted a challenging total of 162 runs with the loss of 8 wickets.

Chasing a target of 163 runs KKR had the same start as Hyderabad. They lost opener Robin Uthappa cheaply in the second over when he was playing at 11. Skipper Gautam Gambhir and all-rounder Colin Munro took the charge and led the team to 46/1 in the powerplay.

Munro made 16 runs off 17 balls before he was run out of a spectacular throw from Yuvraj Singh. Playing at the home ground Gambhir failed to read the pitch and could only contribute 28 runs off 28 balls before he fell for a short delivery from Ben Cutting.

After 10 overs KKR needed 99 runs to win but it was an unlucky day for them as they got into more trouble losing their run rate. Yusuf Pathan fell to an amazing catch took by Bhuvneshwar Kumar off Moises Henriques.

Incoming batsmen Manish Pandey and Suryakumar Yadav came and played sensibly for KKR. They both took the team past the 100-run mark by the 14th over.

Manish Pandey smashed 36 runs off 28 balls including 2 boundaries and 1 six. Suryakumar Yadav scored 23 runs off 15 balls with 1 four and 1 six.

In the 16th over of the game Yadav was sent back by Henriques. Pandey was trying to keep the hopes up but he too was sent back in the 18th over. Rajagopal Sathish (8), Jason Holder (6) and Sunil Narine(1) failed to put up a fight and  KKR finished at 140/8 in their 20 overs.

SRH will now compete with Gujarat Lions in the second qualifier on Friday.

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26 May, 2016
Avni S.Singh