Picture Credit: Twitter
Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday by seven wickets at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. The partnership between Rahul Tripathi (71 off 37) and Aiden Markram (68 off 36) helped the side to cross the winning margin of 175-8 in 17.3 overs. Earlier, Hyderabad bowlers Umran Malik and T Natrajan inflicted three and two batters in the first innings, respectively.
After winning the toss, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) put Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) into bat first. After the first ten overs, KKR were 70/4 with half their batters back in the hut. For Kolkata, skipper Shreyas Iyer (28 off 25), Nitish Rana 54 off 36), and explosive Andre Russel (49 off 25) rescued the team from a mini batting collapse, which saw none of the other batters could reach double-digit figures.
The combination of T Natrajan and Umran Malik wreaked havoc in the KKR batting lineup, as the duo together picked five crucial wickets in the game. Malik's pace was once again the talking point in the game as he made the speed of 145 plus kmph a regular affair during the contest. Let's take a look at some of the highlights from the competition.
The partnership between Shreyas Iyer and Nitish Rana
Kolkata was tottering at 31-3 in 4.1 overs when Shreyas Iyer and Nitish Rana stitched a crucial partnership in the middle overs to rescue the side. Together they added 39 runs on board. While Iyer scored 28-run in 25 balls, Rana played a blistering knock in the game and contributed with his 54 in just 36 balls. His innings were studded with two maximums and six boundaries.
Lethal pace attack from T Natarajan and Umran Malik
Both the bowlers were in prime form against Kolkata and displayed their true potential by inflicting crucial wickets in the game. Natarajan picked three wickets in the form of Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine and dangerous-looking Nitish Rana. Interestingly, Natarajan dismissed Iyer and Narine in the first and third ball of the fourth over, respectively.
Speaking of Malik, he once again grabbed headlines for his sheer pace and exceptional bowling performance versus Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The Jammu and Kashmir lad consistently clocked the speed of 145+ kph while bowling and returned with impressive figures of 2 for 27 in his four overs. KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer (28) and wicketkeeper-batter Sheldon Jackson (7) were his victims.
The 94-run partnership between Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markram
Hyderabad had a troublesome start as their in-form opener Abhishek Sharma (3 off 10) was dismissed in the second over. Skipper Kane Williamson and Rahul Tripathi added a few runs on board before taking a long challenging walk due to Andre Russel. While Hyderabad was in danger at 39-2 in 5.2 overs, Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markram took things under their control and added 79-runs onboard to ensure a third win on the trot for their side. Together, the batters hit ten maximums and as many as boundaries in the game.