Match Recap

Sunrisers Hyderabad registered their first-ever win at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata after they defeated the hosts Kolkata Knight Riders by 5 wickets in Match 10 of VIVO IPL 2018. The SRH bowlers were once again responsible for setting up the match; their five bowlers restricted the home team to 138-8. The SRH captain Kane Williamson scored a patient half-century and powered his team’s chase; SRH got across the line with one full over to spare. The win was Sunrisers’ third win of the season, while KKR suffered their second consecutive defeat following the loss to Chennai Super Kings.

The SRH captain won the toss for the third match in a row and asked the hosts to take first strike. KKR surprised everyone when they sent Robin Uthappa, and not Sunil Narine, to partner Chris Lynn at the top of the innings. That move didn’t yield too much as Uthappa was dismissed in the third over. Nitish Rana, promoted to number three, and Lynn stitched together a useful partnership when rain interrupted the match. KKR were 52-1 from 7 overs when rain stopped play; KKR lost their way and lost four wickets for 41 runs in 6.2 overs when play resumed, and eventually crawled to an underwhelming 138-8.

A mention has to be made here about the Sunrisers’ catching; a couple of extremely difficult catches went down, but their fielders pulled off four outstanding catches in the match. Manish Pandey took two blinders – one in the circle and one in the outfield, Shakib al Hasan pulled off a sharp return catch, while Kane Williamson took a good running catch to dismiss Sunil Narine.

Sunrisers lost their man-in-form – Shikhar Dhawan – early in their chase, but captain Williamson’s calm innings, along with useful contributions from Wriddhiman Saha (24) at the top and Shakib al Hasan (27) in the middle, and eventually a cameo from Yusuf Pathan (17* from 7 balls) saw them home.

Standout batting performances

Even in a hurried format such as 20-over cricket, Kane Williamson brings about a certain degree of calm to proceedings. The Sunrisers captain scored a measured half-century against KKR and laid the foundation for his team’s win. Williamson, who walked out to bat in the fourth over, was busy right through his innings. In the fifth over, he punished Piyush Chawla for consecutive boundaries, and then switched to collecting runs through singles until the eleventh over, when he collected boundaries off consecutive deliveries off Kuldeep Yadav. In the fifteenth over, Williamson deposited one in the crowds – pulling the debutant Shivam Mavi. The SRH captain brought up his half-century in the seventeenth over – getting there off 43 balls, but perished in the following over when he chipped a leg-stump delivery to the fielder at midwicket.

For KKR, Chris Lynn’s 49 (34 balls, 7 fours, 1 six) was the one standout performance. The Australian drove well through the off-side and down the ground, but also collected a couple of boundaries off the inside edge. He was dismissed in the twelfth over when he tried to force Shakib al Hasan down the ground, but the bowler swiftly moved to his left and completed a brilliant return catch.

Notable Support Act - Batting

There must have been a few nerves in the Sunrisers dugout after they lost three wickets for 23 runs. But Shakib al Hasan’s 27 (made from 22 balls), and his 59-run partnership with captain Williamson must have settled the nerves. The left-hander hit Andre Russell for 4, 4 and 6 in the twelfth over to help bring the required run-rate down from nearly 7.5 to 6.38. He was dismissed in the sixteenth over when his indecision saw the ball delivered by Piyush Chawla sneak through the gap between bat and pad and shatter his stumps.

Yusuf Pathan polished off the chase with two boundaries and a six; in the eighteenth over he drilled a Mitchell Johnson length delivery through covers, in the nineteenth over he meted out the same treatment to Andre Russell – though on this occasion he went aerial and just about cleared the fielder at cover. Two deliveries later, he pounced on a short pitched delivery and deposited it into the stands at square-leg. Job done!

Standout bowling performance

Sunil Narine was the best bowler on display in the match. The Trinidadian, who bowled three spells, was accurate in the length he bowled, and barely gave the batsmen anything to punish. He struck with his very first ball when he dismissed Wriddhiman Saha, and castled Shikhar Dhawan at the start of his second over. Narine eventually finished with figures of 4-0-17-2 – the most economical bowling performance in the match.

Earlier in the evening, the Sunrisers bowlers shared the spoils. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, back in the SRH XI, returned the most successful bowler in the match; his 3-26 included the wickets of Robin Uthappa (third over of the match), debutant Shubman Gill (seventeenth over) and Dinesh Karthik (19th over).

Billy Stanlake, who bowled with plenty of fire, and Shakib al Hasan returned identical figures of 4-0-21-2, while Siddarth Kaul’s returns read 4-0-37-1.

Stat of the Match

Sunil Narine was the only bowler in the match to not concede a boundary; he conceded 10 singles, 3 twos and one run through a wide.

Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 138-8 (Chris Lynn 49, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3-26, Billy Stanlake 2-21, Shakib al Hasan 2-21) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad 139-5 in 19 overs (Kane Williamson 50, Shakib al Hasan 27, Sunil Narine 2-17) by 5 wickets.

Man of the Match: Billy Stanlake, for his fiery spell of 2-21.