Royal Challengers Bangalore had already booked their place in the final with a win over the Gujarat Lions in the Qualifier 1. Now, it was left to see who joins them on 29th of May to play the final of IPL 9. The Kolkata Knight Riders were up against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator, with the Gujarat Lions waiting for the winners of this match in the Qualifier 2.
Catch the highlights of the game here.
Kolkata Knight Riders booked their places in the play-offs with a win over their opponents in the last group stage match at the Eden Gardens. Kolkata Knight Riders had got the better of the Sunrisers on both occasions this season and the Knights will be hoping for another win over Hyderabad at Feroz Shah Kotla.
Sunrisers Hyderabad were top of the table with 12 games played and almost certain to finish in the top two, but losing their last two games saw them finish 3rd on the table and end up with a place in the Eliminator. Sunrisers had faced the Knight Riders 6 times in the IPL over the years and have managed to win only 2 of the games and they will look to set the record straight in the Eliminator.
Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and choose to field first.
Playing 11s
Kolkata Knight Riders:
Gautam Gambhir (C), Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Colin Munro, Yusuf Pathan, Rajagopal Sathish, Suryakumar Yadav, Jason Holder, Sunil Narine, Morne Morkel, Kuldeep Yadav.
Sunrisers Hyderabad:
Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner (C), Moises Henriques, Yuvraj Singh, Naman Ojha, Deepak Hooda, Ben Cutting, Bipul Sharma, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Barinder Sran, Mustafizur Rahman.
A Solid Start for SRH
Shikhar Dhawan showed promise as he dispatched Morne Morkel for two consecutive boundaries in the second over, before perishing in the last ball of the over. After losing Dhawan early with only 12 on the board, Henriques and Warner steadied the Sunrisers ship, both batting sensibly, hitting the odd boundary and six.
The final over of the Powerplay saw Gambhir hand the bowl over to Sunil Narine and Warner hit the Caribbean for 12 runs, which included two boundaries. The Sunrisers were 43/1 at the end of their powerplay.
The Match hangs in the balance
Henriques and Warner continued with their partnership, as Warner struggled to score runs quickly, scoring at a run a ball, Henriques took the attack the Knight Riders bowlers.
After a 50 run partnership, both Henriques and Warner were dismissed in the 10th over by young Kuldeep Yadav in consecutive deliveries. Henriques hit Yadav for a six in the third ball of the over and skied the very next ball trying to repeat the feat and was caught by Yadav himself. He then castled Warner, the Aussie southpaw trying to sweep the ball away but failed to make contact.
Yuvraj and Hooda kept the pressure on the KKR bowlers, Yuvraj especially looked in great touch. He took the attack to Yadav who was looking dangerous with his chinaman bowling. He took 12 runs of Yadav’s third over. Hooda too joined the party, he and Yuvraj made sure Sunrisers didn’t lose further wickets after the two quick wickets.
KKR expensive towards the end
Hooda and Yuvraj continued with their hard hitting, Hooda welcomed Holder back into the attack with a six over mid-wicket and Yuvi continued with the carnage with a boundary. But a mishap in the middle saw the over enthusiastic Hooda get run out, Kuldeep Yadav hitting the stumps from long-on.
Kuldeep Yadav was again at it as he got Ben Cutting out for naught, stumped by Uthappa. Another mix up saw Yuvi almost run himself out, luckily for the throw hit him before reaching the bowler.
It looked nothing could unnerve Yuvraj, he had just survived a scare and lost two of his partners but he kept playing his free-flowing brand of cricket, hitting the KKR spinners for boundaries for fun.
Eventually, Holder provided some respite for KKR as he bowled Yuvraj out with a yorker. Naman Ojha too was caught behind in the same over, but two sixes in the last over from Bipul Sharma of Morne Morkel made sure SRH crossed the 160 mark.
The last 5 over went for 53 even though SRH kept losing wickets at regular intervals and Sunrisers Hyderabad finished with 162/8.
KKR off to a good start
After a cautious first over Uthappa and Gambhir tried to break the shackles in the second over and they were relatively successful, getting 12 runs of the first four balls. Uthappa tried to continue with the free flow of runs but was caught by Moises Henriques of Sran’s bowling at cover.
The opening partnership of KKR which had been earning the plaudits of the cricketing universe in the early stages of the IPL had failed to impress lately and were able to score only 15 in this match.
Gambhir and Munro weren’t deterred by the early blow and they continued to play their shots hitting boundaries with ease. Mustafizur bowled a brilliant 6th over, giving away only 3 runs in the final over of the powerplay and KKR were 46/1 after the first six overs, staying on course to chase down 163.
KKR steadies their ship after losing their way.
After a solid start in the powerplays, KKR lost their way. Colin Munro looked good in the middle but unluckily for him, a brilliant piece of fielding from Yuvraj Singh cut his stay in the middle short. Yuvraj rolled back the years to run Munro out with a direct hit with only a single stump to aim at.
The Sunrisers bowlers were tightening the screws around the Knight Riders batsmen, with the required run rate increasing Gambhir tried to cut loose but instead got himself at long-on. With half of the Knight Riders, innings over the required run rate had crept above 9 and was nearing 10.
KKR batsmen were struggling to score runs, the boundaries had dried up and the singles were hard to come by and Henriques shook the Knight ship further by sending the dangerous Yusuf Pathan back to the dugout in the 11th over.
Manish Pandey and Suryakumar Yadav provided resistance and took the attack back to the Sunrisers bowlers with both turning ones into twos and scoring the odd boundary and kept the required run-rate under check. Mustafizur dropped Suryakumar Yadav at third man and luckily for the batsman the ball went for six.
The pacers do it for Sunrisers again
The missed opportunity from Mustafizur didn’t hurt the Sunrisers much, as Suryakumar was soon caught at square leg by Shikhar Dhawan off Moises Henriques delivery. Manish Pandey followed him back to the dugout caught at long-on as he tried to dispatch a Bhuvaneshwar Kumar full toss for six.
The ever-increasing required run rate was getting to the KKR batsmen and the Kolkata franchise possibly missed someone like an Andre Russell. The runs leaked towards the end came back to haunt KKR.
Another brilliant bowling display from the Sunrisers' bowlers . A brilliant yorker from Bhuvaneshwar Kumar sent Sathish back and Holder tried to salvage some pride for his side but was caught at long-off.
While the KKR bowlers conceded 52 runs in the last 5 overs, the Sunrisers pacers were brilliant giving away just 30. KKR fell 22 runs short of the target and the Sunrisers march to the Qualifier 2 to face the Gujarat Lions.
MOM: Moises Henriques
Match Result
SRH 162/8 (20 overs) Yuvraj Singh 44 (30) Kuldeep Yadav 3/35 Morkel 2/31
KKR 140/8 (20 overs) Manish Pandey 36 (28) Bhuvaneshwar Kumar 3/19 Henriques 2/17
SRH won by 22 runs
IPL 2016 Playoffs Schedule
Date | Time (BST/IST) | Fixture | Venue |
May 27 | 8:00 PM | Gujarat Lions vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (Qualifier 2) | Delhi |
May 29 | 8:00 PM | Royal Challengers Bangalore vs TBC (Final) | Bangalore |
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