They say ‘Patience is a virtue’ and today’s eliminator was the perfect example of that. SunRisers Hyderabad faced Kolkata Knight Riders in the first knockout match in this season’s IPL and it was definitely worth waiting late in the night for the match to begin after a long rain interruption.
Gautam Gambhir asked the defending champions to bat first and got it spot on as they could only muster 128 in 20 overs. The rain gods, however, wanted a close contest and decided to delay the match. After a delay of 2 and half hours, the match began, but the target was set at 48 runs from 6 overs!
The SunRisers put a doubt in the Knight Riders’ minds after the first couple of overs, but the latter managed to reach the Promised Land with 7 wickets to spare and set up a date with Mumbai Indians on 19th May in Bangalore. Here are 5 memorable moments from the match that don’t fade away:
#1 Ruthless Umesh Yadav
Today, pacer Umesh Yadav proved exactly why the selectors chose him in the squad for the 2017 Champions Trophy. The 29-year-old has, so far, had a mixed IPL on a personal level, but he is known to rise to the occasion and he did precisely that in Bangalore.
Just a mere look at his bowling figures of 4-0-21-2 doesn’t do him justice as he set the tone of the match from the start itself. In the powerplay, he got an edge off Shikhar Dhawan, which was caught easily by Robin Uthappa before setting his targets on another Indian - Yuvraj Singh – in the 16th over. Umesh Yadav displayed pure aggression and the batsmen had no answer to his bowling.
#2 Nathan Coulter-Nile’s fury
On a ground like the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, not getting hammered for 40 runs in your four overs is considered a good spell of bowling. However, Nathan Coulter-Nile defied the trend and bowled superbly to put a serious dent on Hyderabad’s hopes of making the semis after the first innings itself.
The Australian broke a dangerous looking partnership between Kane Williamson and David Warner by getting the former out in the 12th over of the game. He went on to take Vijay Shankar’s wicket as well as effecting a caught and bowled on Englishman Chris Jordan to return with figures of 4-0-20-3.
#3 Death bowling masterclass
The crowd at the Chinnaswamy, and the viewers watching from home were given a masterclass in bowling at the death – something that would have made peak Lasith Malinga proud. At a time when 10 runs per over are considered the norm in the final few overs, Kolkata’s bowlers did a marvellous job at just conceding just 10 runs in the final 2 overs.
Coulter-Nile and Trent Boult were the bowlers who ensured the target stayed in their team’s sights. The Australian conceded just 3 runs in the penultimate over while getting the wickets of Vijay Shankar and Jordan. The final over saw the Kiwi mix it up brilliantly as he conceded just 7 runs while also taking the wicket of Naman Ojha with the final ball of the innings.
#4 Bhuvneshwar Kumar just doesn’t give up
When the chips are down, you would only want one man to have the ball in his hands and that is young Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The Duckworth-Lewis method had revised the target to 48 in 6 overs – a comparatively tougher ask than 129 in 20 – but, you’d be considered a madman for suggesting that the result of the match was still not decided.
However, cometh the hour, cometh the man! Bhuvi stepped up and got 2 wickets in the very first over to show the Knight Riders that the defending champions won’t go out without a fight! After being smacked for a 6 by Chris Lynn, the pacer got him out in the very next ball before running Yusuf Pathan out to have Gautam Gambhir’s men reeling at 7/2 in the first over itself.
#5 Sensible Gautam Gambhir
A captain leads from the front and it wouldn’t be quite like Gautam Gambhir if he didn’t have a say in the biggest of matches. The man of the match in India’s World Cup winning campaign in 2011 may not be in the Indian colours anymore, but that doesn’t take the fight out of the man.
When the KKR captain came to the pitch, his team were reeling at 7/2 after just 4 balls! He relieved the pressure straight away with a four over point before nudging his way to a well-made XX off YY balls, which included fours and sixes. With this knock, he ensured that they stay alive in the tournament and face Mumbai in the same city on 19th May!
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