IPL 2019, Match 2, KKR vs SRH: 3 mistakes that cost SRH the game

Kolkata Knight Riders locked horns against the tournament favorites Sunrisers Hyderabad at the iconic stadium in Eden Gardens. The purple brigade led by veteran Dinesh Karthik won the toss and opted to chase.

SRH openers Warner and Bairstow got the visitors off to a solid start with some great shots. The runs continued to flow at a fast pace as both the openers took the score above the 100-run mark. It was only in the 13th over that KKR finally managed to break the opening partnership, courtesy Chawla.

Warner continued to hammer the bowlers from the other end before falling for 85. Shankar came in at three and played a fine cameo of 40 off 24 balls that helped SRH post 181 for 3 in 20 overs.

Chasing 182, KKR lost Lynn early but Rana and Uthappa steadied the ship with a 50+ runs stand. SRH came back into the game with wickets and it seemed like SRH would seal a win, but Russell and Gill had other ideas. The duo added 53 runs in the final three overs to seal the game for KKR.

Here are the reasons that cost SRH the game.

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#1 Yusuf dropping a sitter

Yusuf dropped an easy catch of Robin Uthappa

When Rashid comes on to bowl, he always creates a chance or two. In his very first over, he did exactly that and induced a mistake from Uthappa, who was unable to get to the pitch of the ball and offered a simple grab to Yusuf Pathan.

Pathan didn't even had to move a lot but the man from Baroda spilled the chance. Uthappa, then on 20, managed to add 15 more valuable runs which proved to be crucial for the opposition.

At that stage of the game, KKR were slowly clawing their way back into the game and the catch would have definitely put more pressure on the home side. As they say, catches win matches and that's exactly what SRH failed to do.

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#2 Bowling a spinner in the last over

Shakib Al Hasan came on to bowl the last over with only 13 runs to defend

When 13 was required from the last over, stand-in SRH skipper Bhuvneshwar threw the ball to his spinner Shakib. He too was under immense pressure because the penultimate over bowled by him went for a whopping 21 runs.

Shakib began the over with a wide and single but two sixes hit by Gill took KKR over the line. They won a thriller with two balls to spare. Perhaps, the inexperience of captaining a side got the better of Bhuvneshwar, who by the way had Shankar as a good option to bowl the last over. (Remember, Shankar did manage to win India a game by bowling the last over against Australia)

Furthermore, Bhuvi did have Warner for support and perhaps they both felt the experience of Shakib was always going to overpower the likes of Vijay Shankar.

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#3 Saving Rashid for the later stages

Rashid Khan was brought on very late on the attack by stand-in skipper Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Getting early wickets is always the key to any side. With a proper wicket-taker in Rashid Khan, perhaps SRH should have tossed the ball to their premier spinner early on. It was not until the seventh over that we witnessed the Afghan's entry into the game.

He did manage to create doubts in the batters mind and also created a few chances but it would have made a difference if the Afghan had a longer spell in the middle overs. On the other hand, KKR did quite well to see off Rashid, despite the run rate creeping in excess of 13 RPO.

They managed to play Rashid reasonably well (lost only one wicket to Rashid) and attacked the other bowlers to record a stunning come from behind victory.

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