Yesterday saw a thrilling encounter between the SRH and MI in a game where both needed wins under their belt to get off to a start in this season’s IPL. SRH looked high on confidence as they came into the game needing a win after losing their first two games. David Warner played a captain’s innings scoring a 90 of 53 balls to take SRH through to their first win.
Today sees the clash of two big teams, KKR and KXIP who have a great rivalry. Despite having the a slight edge over KXIP, KKR should not be complacent and try to bring their A-game into the match.
Also read: IPL Results 2016: Scores, Updated Points Table and Fixture Schedule on April 20
The Knight riders won the toss and Gambhir decided to put the Kings into bat first. KXIP started off decently with Murali Vijay and Manan Vohra showing promise at the start of the innings. But the two could not make the best of the start as Vohra was caught by the Bangladeshi chinaman Shakib al Hasan off Morne Morkel. Murali Vijay started the innings briskly by hitting 4 fours but he could not make the most off his start as he was bowled by Piyush Chawla in the 8th over.
Maxwell and middle order fail again
Wriddhiman Saha was promoted to number three tonight to anchor the innings but was caught behind by Uthappa off the bowling Sunil Narine the spin wizard. Captain Miller popularly called Miller the killer was next to the crease. Yusuf Pathan the part-time offie took the prized wicket of Miller who went for just 6 in the 13th over. He did not play the captain's knock as his namesake David Warner played the previous day for the Sunrisers. Shaun Marsh top scored for KXIP scoring 56 of 41 balls to take KXIP to a decent total.
Next came the people’s champion the Australian batting powerhouse Glenn Maxwell who was caught in the deep for just 4runs off Narine’s bowling. The tail consisting of Axar Patel, Mohit Sharma, Pradeep Sahu and Kyle Abbot added only 23 to the main total.
At the end of the innings, KXIP were able to put up only 138 for the loss of 8 wickets after their quota of 20 overs. Gautam Gambhir used 7 bowlers in today’s game including the part-timers who outfoxed the KIXP bowlers. Morne Morkel and Sunil Narine were the picks of the bowlers picking up two wickets each and changed the course of the match in KKR’s favor. Piyush, Yusuf, and Umesh chipped in as well picking up a wicket each and helped restrict the Kings to just 138.
Robin and Gautam put up 82 for the first wicket
Gautam Gambhir playing his 200th IPL match put up a good show once again with Robin Uthappa. Uthappa trashed back to back boundaries in the first over itself off Sandeep Sharma. Uthappa and Gambhir gave a steady start to the innings. And had a consistent 11 runs per over till the fifth over.
Uthappa was the first to depart after scoring a quick fire 53 off 28 balls and put up an 82 run stand with Gambhir. The captain was quick to follow holding out to a brilliant athletic catch by Glen Maxwell. Pandey scored 12 off 11 balls before being cleaned up by Axar Patel. Shakib also fell cheaply to Axar Patel caught at mid-on by Sandeep Sharma.
Suryakumar Yadav and Yusuf Pathan took KKR through to victory with two over and five balls to spare. Pradeep Sahu and Axar Patel were the pick off the bowlers for KXIP but could not restrict KKR from picking the victory.
KXIP: 138/8(20 overs) Shaun Marsh 56*, Murali Vijay 26; Sunil Narine 22-2
KKR: 141/4(17.1 overs) Robin Uthappa 53, Gautam Gambhir 34; Pradeep Sahu 18-2
MOM: Robin Uthappa
IPL 2016 Points Table
| Pos | Team | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | N/R | Pts | NRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kolkata | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | +1.075 |
| 2 | Gujrat | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | +0.714 |
| 3 | Delhi | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +0.249 |
| 4 | Bangalore | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | +0.901 |
| 5 | Pune | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | +0.338 |
| 6 | Hyderabad | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -0.672 |
| 7 | Mumbai | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -0.880 |
| 8 | Punjab | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -1.155 |
.@KKRiders beat #KXIP by 6 wickets. Tough luck for us today. We shall definitely come back strongly! #KXIPvKKR
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