Dubai: Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers performed in cohesion to restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad to a paltry 115/8 in 20 overs in match 49 of IPL 2021 at Dubai International Stadium here Sunday. Throughout the innings, Kolkatas bowlers made life difficult for Hyderabad’s batters, hardly providing any breathing space.
After electing to bat first, Hyderabad had a bad start with Wriddhiman Saha trapped in front of the wicket by Tim Southee on the second ball of the innings. Jason Roy never looked to be settled at the crease, despite two fours. In the fourth over, Roy mishit to mid-on off Shivam Mavi.
Kane Williamson crunched Mavi for four fours in the last over of power-play. But his promising stay at the crease was cut short in a huge misjudgement for a tight single towards short mid-wicket. Shakib Al Hasan ran to collect the ball and fired a direct hit to catch Williamson short of the crease at the non-striker’s end.
Kolkata sustained the pressure with three boundary-less overs. Abhishek Sharma, in a bid to break the dry run, charged down the pitch to hit over leg-side. But he couldn’t connect with the ball from Shakib and was stumped easily.
Priyam Garg had a six but a top-edge on slog-sweep landed in deep mid-wicket’s hands off Varun Chakravarthy. The leg-spinner had his second wicket in his next over as Jason Holder miscued to long-off. Abdul Samad made a quickfire 25 laced with three sixes before holing out to long-on off Southee.
Rashid Khan hit a boundary through covers off Mavi to take Hyderabad past 100. On the next ball, Mavi had his man as Khan mistimed to long-on. Siddarth Kaul’s boundary on the last ball ensured that Hyderabad’s bowlers have something substantial to defend.
Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 115/8 in 20 overs (Kane Williamson 26, Abdul Samad 25, Varun Chakravarthy 2/25, Tim Southee 2/26) against Kolkata Knight Riders.