IPL 10, Match 14 KKR v SRH Review: Classy innings from Uthappa gives KKR 3rd win of season

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) continued their good work in Vivo IPL 10 as the two-time champions registered a comprehensive victory against defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad by 17 runs to win their 3rd match of the tournament. It was a thoroughly professional performance by the home team as they outclassed the opposition in all 3 departments of the game.

Earlier in the day, it was the exceptional batting effort from Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey which propelled the hosts to a score of more than 170. Despite some impressive performances from Hyderabad, the KKR bowlers stuck to their task and defended the total with utmost ease in the end. It was a collective effort from the KKR bowlers and it paid off.

Winning the toss Sunrisers captain David Warner put the visitors in. Captain Gautam Gambhir stuck with his policy from the previous match and strolled out in the middle to open the innings with Sunil Narine. The southpaw struck a flat batted boundary but couldn’t carry on his good work and was dismissed by a peach of a delivery from Bhuvneshwar Kumar. It was a well-directed Yorker which went under his bat and uprooted the timbers.

In came Robin Uthappa and he survived a scare in the opening delivery. Bhuvi bowled an exceptional outswinger which took the outside edge of Robbie’s bat and was safely taken by Naman Ojha behind the stumps. But to the utter disbelief of the Hyderabad camp, the decision went in favour of the batting team. He literally smashed it and it was yet again a pretty ordinary decision by the onfield umpire.

His first big shot came in the final delivery of the 6th over bowled by teenage sensation Rashid Khan. He swatted it from way outside the off stump to deposit it over the long on boundary. Meanwhile, Gambhir was castled by Rashid but the pair of Manish Pandey and Robin Uthappa started to take on the Sunrisers bowlers from the outset.

He kept on collecting the fours and the sixes on a consistent basis to keep the scoreboard ticking. He deposited a half tracker from Moises Henriques over the long on boundary followed by a couple more of the next two overs of Bipul Sharma and Henriques respectively. Uthappa reached his fifty in the 13th over and looked set for much more.

Then the home team collected 14 runs from the 13th over bowled by veteran left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra. Boundaries kept coming as KKR reached 124/3 in the 15th over. After the dismissal of Uthappa in the 15th over, KKR collected 26 runs in the 16th and the 17th over as Manish Pandey belted the Hyderabad bowlers around Eden Gardens.

The hosts were unable to press on the accelerator in the last 2 overs as they managed to score 172 in their allotted 20 overs. It wasn’t a match-winning score by any stress of imagination but it was certainly a competitive total to play with. Openers Shikhar Dhawan and captain David Warner walked out in the middle in pursuit of that run chase.

Umesh Yadav conceded only 5 runs in the opening over and but it was followed by a hat-trick of boundaries by Shikhar Dhawan in the next 2 overs. The southpaw looked in good touch and along with Warner, the duo put up a solid opening partnership to get the team off to a sensible start. A score of 45/0 in the powerplay was just what the doctor had ordered for the visitors.

Dhawan was eventually dismissed by Yusuf Pathan as the southpaw stepped down the track and chipped a delivery straight down to the throat of the long on fielder. Warner also fell in quick succession as the left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav foxed him with a googly. He couldn’t go to the pitch of the ball and was holed out by the long off fielder Chris Woakes.

Henriques too fell in the very next over of Chris Woakes as the Tasmanian all-rounder gave away a simple return catch to the bowler. The pressure was building on the Hyderabad line-up but the duo of Deepak Hooda and Yuvraj Singh brought the pressure down by executing some lusty blows. Yuvraj welcomed Umesh Yadav with a straight six over the sightscreen and followed it up with another boundary towards the fine leg region.

On the other hand, Hooda also smashed Yusuf Pathan for a six and followed it up with a boundary. Hooda and Yuvraj Singh was dismissed within a matter of 5 deliveries as the visitors required more 60 runs to win off the final 5. Wickets fell on a consistent basis in the final few overs as Punjab failed to chase the total down and eventually fell short by 7 runs.

The final few overs totally went in favour of the hosts as the KKR bowlers clinched yet another victory at their fortress. Meanwhile, Hyderabad lost their 5th consecutive match at the Eden Gardens. Robin Uthappa was awarded the Man of the Match award for his heroics with the bat.

Brief Scores

Kolkata Knight Riders 172/6 in 20 overs (Robin Uthappa 68, Manish Pandey 46, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/20)

Sunrisers Hyderabad 155/6 in 20.0 overs (Yuvraj Singh 26, David Warner 26, Chris Woakes 2/49, Sunil Narine 1/18, Yusuf Pathan

Kolkata Knight Riders won by 17 runs