IPL 2018 Playoffs, SRH vs KKR: Hits and Misses
It was the penultimate game of this season of the IPL as Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad battled it out in the second Qualifier.
KKR won the toss and opted to field first. SRH made as many as three changes and also dropped Manish Pandey after his poor run.
SRH got off to a good start, as Shikhar Dhawan and Wriddhiman Saha put on 56 for the opening stand. But Kuldeep Yadav’s double strike (picking up big wickets of Dhawan and Kane Williamson), put SRH on the back foot.
Those wickets did derail the Sunrisers innings as the KKR spinners were very good once again.
But a blistering 10-ball cameo from Rashid Khan, propelled the ‘Men in Orange’ to 174.
Chasing a stiff target, Sunil Narine once again helped KKR get off to a flier as he got 26 off 13 balls. Chris Lynn and Nitish Rana looked good, but wickets at regular intervals pegged the home team back, and they eventually fell short by 13 runs.
Rashid Khan was magnificent as he turned the game with three key wickets in the middle-overs which turned the game decisively in SRH’s favour.
SRH qualified for the finals and will now face CSK on Sunday (May 27).
#5 Miss: Kane Williamson
Kane Williamson has, by far, been SRH’s best batsman. He’s stood up in difficult situations and has scored consistently throughout the season. After scoring four successive fifties, Williamson got starts in the last two games but, failed to kick on.
In this game, Williamson walked out in the 8th over of the innings, after Shikhar Dhawan and Wriddhiman Saha had strung a 56-run opening stand.
As soon as he walked in, the SRH skipper tried to be busy at the crease by rotating strike. He pinched a single off his first delivery before sneaking a two with an elegant shot through the covers.
But, he was then undone by a very good wrong’un from Kuldeep, as the chinaman found the edge which was taken very well by Dinesh Karthik. In a big game, Williamson could manage just 3.