IPL 2019, Match 2, KKR vs SRH: 3 unnoticed things from the thriller
The second match of IPL 2019 started with Kolkata Knight Riders winning the toss and choosing to bowl first. Unlike the IPL opener, the Eden Garden's pitch turned out to be batting paradise as the Sunrisers Hyderabad openers built a game-changing partnership.
David Warner and Jonny Bairstow, who had walked out to start the proceedings for SRH, adapted to their roles very fastly. From one end, Bairstow farmed the strike whilst from the other end, Warner took the charge and started to do the damage.
The opening duo stitched together a partnership of 118 runs. Bairstow was then dismissed by Piyush Chawla in the 13th over. However, the damage didn't stop even then as Warner kept hitting the ball. The Aussie cricketer's blitz finally ended with a widish half-volley from Andre Russell on the last ball of the 16th over.
After Warner's wicket, it was Vijay Shankar who increased the tempo and scored runs with a higher ante during the slog overs. In the end, the Sunrisers posted a massive target of 182 runs in 20 overs.
Chasing a mammoth total, the Kolkata Knight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik made a change in the batting line-up and sent Nitish Rana to open the innings alongside Chris Lynn in place of Sunil Narine. Lynn wasn't able to show his madness today as the guy was dismissed in the second over itself.
After Chris Lynn's wicket, Robin Uthappa tried to build a partnership with Nitish Rana but couldn't make it a longer one as Siddharth Kaul's ripper struck his wicket in the 12th over. Uthappa's dismissal was soon followed by Dinesh Karthik's wicket in the next over. In the meantime, the decision to promote Rana up the order turned out to be a great one as the youngster held his nerves and farmed the strike from one end.
Rana was unfortunately dismissed due to the lapse of concentration but then the charge was taken by Andre Russell and the rest, as they say, is history. His blitz of 49 runs in 19 balls eventually secured the match in KKR's favour as they won it by 6 wickets.
On that note, let us have a look at three unnoticed things from today's match.
#1. Sunil Narine didn't come to open because of injury
A decision that raised the eyebrows of many cricket pundits from all over the world was Sunil Narine's demotion and Nitish Rana's promotion.
Narine, who has a great record while opening the innings, wasn't sent to open and instead, Nitish Rana was asked to open the innings. The spectators were clearly shocked at seeing this happen. However, it was later revealed that Narine was not sent to open due to the finger injury he suffered while fielding during the first innings.
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