English
Kolkata Knight Riders advanced to the qualifier two after beating Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets in a rain-marred match at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium on Wednesday. After winning the match, KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir said he was nervous as the rain kept both teams tensed.
Earlier, Gambhir winning the toss elected to field first. KKR bowlers bowled really well to restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad for 128 in 20 overs. As Hyderabad’s innings got over, late evening shower started.
KKR’s innings started late in the night. As per Duckworth–Lewis method, KKR needed to chase down 48 runs in six overs.
KKR chased down the total in 5.2 overs with seven wickets in hand. The match finally got over at 1 am on Thursday.
KKR batsmen were in a hurry to finish the match so they lost three wickets. Chris Lynn (7, caught behind), Yusuf Pathan (0, run out) and Robin Uthappa (1, caught) departed, leaving it to captain Gautam Gambhir and Ishank Jaggi to complete the formalities.
Gambhir led from the front with 32 runs, including two fours and two sixes. When asked about the victory after the match, Gambhir praised his bowler for putting a great performance.
“A lot of credit to the bowlers. They set the game up for us. We should have been more sensible with the batting, though. But the bowlers restricting the Sunrisers batting to 128 was brilliant,” he said.
“There have been times when we’ve lacked intensity. And every run we stop on the field is one less to score and all 11 players were up for that. They knew that last time Sunrisers beat us in this Eliminator and they got it back for us,” he added.
Earlier in the season, heavy rain had caused the abandonment of the Royal Challengers Bangalore versus Sunrisers Hyderabad match on April 25 without a ball being bowled.
“You do get nervous (about the rain) and we have played really well this season and our bowlers put in an unbelievable effort and if we had gone out after the rain, it wouldn’t have been good.
“We don’t have a good record against Mumbai Indians, but hopefully we can settle that tomorrow,” Gambhir said.
For breaking news and live news updates, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Read more on Latest Cricket News on India.com.
