Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets in a breath-taking encounter at Eden Gardens. Jamaican all-rounder, Andre Russell stole the show with a magnificent knock to set the tone for IPL 2019.
Sunrisers Hyderabad set up a target of 182 runs thanks to an inspiring innings from David Warner (85 from 53 balls). During the chase, it was Nitish Rana (68 from 47 balls) who kept the chase going. His 80 runs partnership with Robin Uthappa got the home team going after Chris Lynn’s early dismissal.
With the wicket of Nitish Rana at 118 in 15.3 overs, things weren't looking good for KKR with 64 still required. Shubman Gill (18*) joined Andre Russell and their unbeaten 65-run partnership in just 25 balls snatched victory from SRH.
Earlier in the day, Dinesh Karthik won the toss and elected to field first, something they've been doing in their last 25 games in IPL.
David Warner and Jonny Bairstow (39) gave the visitors an ideal start (118 in 12.5 overs). DK and his bowlers weren't having a great day on field but managed to pull things back after in the death overs. A late blitzkrieg from all rounder Vijay Shankar (40* from 24 balls) took SRH's total to a competitive total of 181 for 3 in 20 overs.
In a surprising move, Chris Lynn was joined by Nitish Rana to open for KKR. Lynn (7) had no luck and ended up giving a sitter to Rashid Khan off Shakib's bowling.
Both Uthappa (35 from 27 balls) & Rana didn't panic and took calculated risk to take our total to 118 for 4 in 15.3 overs.
The Job wasn't done yet! KKR required 53 runs from 18 balls and the job was completed in 16 balls. Andre playing his 50th T20 for KKR did what all the KKR fans expected him to do - take us home with a splendid innings. In the process he also reached 4,500 runs in T20s, unlocking yet another milestone.
Mission SRH is done! It's time to keep the momentum going when we face KXIP on March 27 at Eden Gardens.
#KKRHaiTaiyaar
Brief Scores:
SRH - 181/3 (Warner 85, Shankar 40*, Russell 2/32) in 20 overs
KKR - 183/4 (Rana 68, Russell 49*, Rashid Khan 1/26) in 19.4 overs
KKR won by 6 wickets with 2 balls remaining.