Qualifier 2, KKR vs SRH: 3 Masterstrokes from the game

Last night, there was another last over thriller at the Eden Gardens. After a series of defeats, the Sunrisers now have a final chance to avenge the men in yellow having lost all three games against the Chennai Super Kings in this year’s IPL.

KKR’s Dinesh Karthik won the toss and took a bold decision to chase against arguably the best bowling attack in a high-pressure game. Young Shivam Mavi replaced the big West Indian Javon Searles. The Sunrisers surprisingly made three changes and brought Saha, Hooda and Khaleel were in for Shreevats Goswami, Manish Pandey and Sandeep Sharma.

The Sunrisers got off to a solid start with Dhawan and Saha getting a 50 run opening stand.T he Chinaman turned things around with two wickets in his first over removing Dhawan and the in-form SRH skipper Kane Williamson with a deceiving wrong’un. With Handy contributions from Shakib and Hooda and a flourish at the end by Rashid Khan scoring 34 of just 10 balls, the SRH ended with a healthy score of 174.

Chasing a challenging total of 175 for a place in the final, The Knight Riders started well with the top 3 getting runs and setting up a solid platform for the middle order. However, the spin twins Rashid Khan and Shakib turned the wave in favour of the Sunrisers. A fine display of batting skills from the young Shubman Gill at the end wasn’t enough to take the Knight Riders past the finishing line.

Here are three Masterstrokes that set this game up for the Sunrisers.

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#1 Wriddhiman Saha delivers in his comeback game

After recovering from injury, Wriddhiman Saha returned to the playing XI in the crucial encounter against the Kolkata Knight Riders in place of Shreevats Goswami. The Indian Wicket Keeper-batsman along with Shikhar Dhawan gave the Sunrisers a solid 50 run stand for the opening wicket.

Saha scored a brisk 35 of 27 balls before succumbing to Piyush Chawla. The experienced Saha repaid the faith shown on him by captain Kane in a crunch game. More often, teams try to stick to their same XI during the final stages of the tournament. However, playing Saha ahead was Goswami is a masterstroke that paid off for Kane Williamson.

#2 Rashid Khan get the big fish Andre Russell

Chasing an above par total of 175 against the best bowling attack, KKR’s hopes were heavily dependent of the big-hitting Andre Russell to take them to the finals. The Knight Riders were struggling at 108/5 requiring another 67 runs from 46 balls.

Rashid Khan was at his supreme best yet again. Russell decided to defensively play out Rashid Khan. A masterstroke from captain Kane Williamson attacking Andre Russell with a slip and a forward short-leg in the 15th over of the run chase. Andre Russell edged one straight to Shikhar Dhawan in the slips and that was the game changer and the knight riders never really got back into the game.

#3 Kane Williamson’s last over gamble pays off

KKR’s last hope was India’s U19 Superstar Shubman Gill. The youngster played a stylish knock keeping the Knights’ hope alive. SRH’s death bowling specialists Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Siddarth Kaul were done with their quota of four overs by the 19th overs. The memories of Carlos Brathwaite taken apart by Faf Du Plessis for 21 runs a couple of nights ago was fresh in memory.

However, Kane Williamson decided to give the West Indies’ world cup hero a second chance to prove himself by giving him the last over to defend 20 against Gill and Mavi. Brathwaite delivered with back to back wickets of Mavi and Gill and conceded just four runs of the final over to set up a grand finale against the Super Kings at Wankhede on Sunday night.