IPL 2021: Knights starts with a win!

Chennai, April 12: With the help of opener Nitish Rana (80) and Rahul Tripathi (53) smashing fluent half-centuries, Kolkata Knight Riders scripted a comfortable 10-run win against Sunrisers Hyderabad here on Sunday.

 

 

Though Rashid Khan (2/24) came out with good figures against KKR batsmen, others could not took wickets on a slow yet decent batting wicket.

 

Hyderabad lost skipper David Warner (3) and Wriddhiman Saha (7) early and were always playing a catch-up game despite Jonny Bairstow’s fighting half-century. Jonny Bairstow (55) and Manish Pandey (61 not out) formed a partnership at a steady run rate.They could manage 177 for five in the end.

 

 

SRH needed 70 off the last five overs. However, requiring 22 runs from the last over, KKR’s Andre Russell held his nerves to deny SRH a win.

 

Earlier, left-handed opener Rana struck the ball hard and clean to provide his side a confident start after they were asked to take first strike.Neither Bhuvneshwar Kumar nor T Natarajan could stop Rana from hitting boundaries even as Subhman Gill was quiet initially. Sandeep Sharma was hit for three boundaries in a row by him.

 

 

His colleague at the other end Rahul Tripathi also stroked confidently and fluently. He completed his fifty with another boundary off Bhuvneshwar but was dismissed by Natarajan soon after when he top-edged a ball.