KKR beat Sunrisers by 7 wickets D/L method
Indian Premier League, Eliminator: Sunrisers Hyderabad v Kolkata Knight Riders at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, May 17-18, 2017
Sunrisers Hyderabad 128-7 off 20 ov DA Warner 37 off 35, 3 fours, 2 soxes, KS Williamson 24 off 26, 2 fours, 1six, V Shankar 22 off 17, 2 foyrs , 1 six,NM Coulter-Nile 20-3, UT Yadav 21-2, TA Boult 30-1, PP Chawla 27-1.
Kolkata Knight Riders 48-3 off 5.2 ov G Gambir 32 off 19, 2 fours, 2 sixes, CA Lynn 6 oof 2, 1 six, B Kumar 11-1, CJ Jordan 9-1,
Kolkata Knight Riders won by 7 wickets (with 4 balls remaining) D/L Method.
KKR enter the second qualifier and next meet Mumbai Indians.
Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and chose to field, and bowled tightly to restrict the defending champion Sunrisers Hyderabad packing home to 128. Conditions at Chinnaswamy Stadium worsened as it rained and rained some more. If this match was to be washed out, Knight Riders would have been knocked out since they finished fourth on the league table and Sunrisers third.
But the playing conditions for playoffs allow for a five-over match to begin as late as 12.26am well past the schedule match starts and for a super over to be played as far into the night as 1:20am.
Knight Riders shuffled their batting order, and then lost three quick wickets in 1.1 overs. But a shortened second innings because of rain favoured the chasing team, as Knight Riders kept their nerve and strode home with four balls to spare, with the help of their big hitting captain Gautam Gambhir with an unbeaten 32 off 19 balls. The pitcb was full of crack and dark spots and Knight Riders’ spinners got the ball to turn sharply, with Sunil Nairne and their seamers made Sunrisers batmen’s life miserable as they could hardly drive any ball. Of the 72 balls that Knight Riders’ send down, 53 were pitcher either short or short of a good length, mixed with varied pace and Sunrisers could only score 46. However, David Warner and Kane Williamson scored 50 in 46 balls for the second wicket. Nathan Coulter-Nile produced a spell that stopped Sunrisers Hyderabad from accelerating, and won the Man of the Match. He scappled wickets of Kane Williamson, and by targeting sjort of good length balls he got wickets of Vijay Shankar and Chris Jordan. The 1§9th over went only for 3 runs.
Having taken ten wickets Knight Riders were required to get 48 off 6 overs . Chris Lynn and Robin Uttappa failed as they were 12 for 3, still needing 36 runs with seven wickets in hand. In comes Gambhir and top edged Chris Jordan for six and putting Siddarth Kaul away for six and four off successive balls.