Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi smashed quickfire half-centuries, which helped KKR get to 187 in the IPL match against SRH. In reply, Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow struck fifties for SRH as well but they fell 10 runs short as the their pacers combined to bowl well at the death.
Kolkata Knight Riders became the first team in this 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League to defend a total successfully. Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi were the stars with the bat as their quick half-centuries set up the game for KKR before the entire bowling attack combined to restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad to 177/5, 10 runs short of the target.
On a dry pitch, David Warner won the toss and opted to bowl first. KKR made full use of the fielding restrictions in the powerplay. In the 2020 season of the IPL, KKR constantly struggled to get going at the top and failed to utilise the powerplay. However, they put the right foot forward to kickstart the 2021 season as Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana shared a 53-run opening stand. They added 50 runs in the powerplay, something which KKR managed just once throughout the 2020 season. It was Rana who was the aggressor as he scored 38 runs in that opening stand.
Rashid Khan knocked over Gill soon after the powerplay. However, that brought Rahul Tripathi in the middle and along with Rana, he smashed the SRH bowlers to all corners of the Chepauk Stadium. The duo smartly played out the threat of Rashid but went out on the attack against the other bowlers.
Rana slowed down and played second fiddle as Tripathi cut loose. The former got to fifty in 37 balls and it came in the 10th over.
Meanwhile, Tripathi kept going at the other end and reached his fifty off just 28 balls and he had taken Bhuvneshwar Kumar to the cleaners in the 15th over.
At 145/1 in 15 overs, KKR were looking set for a 200+ finish. However, the SRH bowlers came back well at the death and conceded just 26 runs and took three wickets in the next four overs before Dinesh Karthik’s last over exploits took KKR to 187.
Harbhajan Singh who was playing a competitive cricket game after a whopping 699 days opened the bowling for KKR and almost had SRH skipper David Warner but Pat Cummins dropped him at point. However, that didn’t cost the two-time champions much as Prasidh Krishna who cranked up solid pace had Warner nicking to the keeper in the second over of the innings. Three balls later, Wriddhiman Saha chopped one back on to his stumps to give Shakib Al Hasan his first wicket.
SRH were reeling at 7/2 when Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow came together. Both batters got off to sedate starts as Pandey reached 12 off 13 while Bairstow was on a run-a-ball 13 at the end of the powerplay as SRH’s score read 35/2.
However, once the powerplay was done, Bairstow upped the ante and went out on the attack. He found the fence and went over it regularly as Pandey struggled to find the boundary at the other end.
Bairstow notched up sixth IPL half-century as it came in just 32 balls and continued his stellar run. However, the England hard-hitting batsman was caught at point off Cummins in the 13th over. At that stage, SRH needed 86 runs in seven overs.
After Bairstow’s dismissal, SRH’s innings never got going. Pandey could find the boundary here and there but it was more of ticking around for ones and twos. Nabi struck a couple of boundaries but couldn’t last long and to everyone’s surprise, Vijay Shankar walked out ahead of Abdul Samad but couldn’t make it big.
With 38 runs needed off the last two overs, Samad raised a few hopes by striking Cummins for a couple of sixes in the penultimate over but it was too steep a mountain to climb. 22 runs were required in the final over and barring the last ball, Samad or Pandey couldn’t get the boundary. Eventually, SRH won by 10 runs to get off to a winning start.
Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 187/6 (Rana 80, Tripathi 53, Rashid 2/24, Nabi 2/32) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 177/5 (Pandey 61*, Bairstow 55, Krishna 2/35, Cummins 1/30) by 10 runs
