IPL 2018: Match 54, SRH vs KKR- Who Said What

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) managed to qualify for the playoffs with their eighth win in 14 matches. They faced the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Hyderabad, which didn’t seem a cakewalk initially. Nevertheless, the Knights looked clinical for a chunk of the match and romped to a victory with five wickets in hand. They also became the third team to storm into the playoffs.

SRH put a competitive score

Kane Williamson won the toss and had no second thoughts with regards to batting first for the reason that the pitch might slow down in the second half. Shreevats Goswami and Shikhar Dhawan opened the batting and the duo blazed away from the outset. Their partnership of 79 runs inside nine overs pushed the Knights on the backfoot. Kuldeep Yadav gave KKR their first breakthrough getting rid of Goswami.

Dhawan carried on his merry way and notched his 32nd fifty across the eleven seasons of the tournament. Williamson threatened to take the match away from the Knight Riders as he scored 36 runs off 17 balls. However, Javon Searles accounted for his wicket soon after Dhawan was pinned by Prasidh Krishna. Thereafter, it was a procession of wickets and that restricted the home team to 172/9.

Lynn guides KKR

The run-chase started in a blistering fashion for the Knight Riders as Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn took the bowling by the scruff of their necks. Narine took Sandeep Sharma to the cleaners and smacked him for 20 runs to take KKR into the ascendancy. Shakib Al Hasan got rid of Narine to give SRH their initial breakthrough. Lynn looked fluent throughout his knock and scored 55 runs.

Robin Uthappa, who seemed out of form in the earlier matches, played an impressive hand of 45 runs from 34 balls and took the visitors close to the target. Siddarth Kaul and Carlos Braithwaite picked up a couple of late wickets, but couldn’t stop the Knights from accomplishing their third win on the trot. Dinesh Karthik played a responsible knock of 26 runs and ensured that KKR suffer minimum hiccups in the end.

Kane Williamson, the skipper of Sunrisers Hyderabad, said

We were on target for more runs, wicket played really well. We should have scored around the 200-run mark but credit goes to KKR for dragging us back. Lot of credit goes to the the boys in the field. It doesn’t matter what happens now, we need to come out and play with freedom in the playoffs. Guys are looking forward to that but having said that we wanted to win this game.

We have been fraction off the mark in the matches we have lost. I think we should have got more with the bat, we needed one more partnership but they bowled well in the death. If the batting comes off we will get more with the bat. We have adapted really well to the new surfaces. There are positives even in the losses too. There are not a lot of bad stuff just a few adjustments.

Dinesh Karthik, the skipper of Kolkata Knight Riders, said

I think all eight teams strive for the play-off spots, so happy to reach there. Things are slowly settling down. Just the way we are playing shows good character. I’d like to think that.

Chris Lynn, the Player of the Match, said

It’s a great feeling. We’re building momentum nicely, so let’s see what happens. The wickets in BBL are a bit quicker, so I have to adapt here. I am finding my touch. Sunil is blasting it at the other end, so we’ve two blokes doing that now.

The main thing is to build partnerships. It’s good fun. He can take the momentum away from the other team. He keeps it nice and simple, and that seems to be working for him. Couple of wins on the board, and we’re not going to change the way we play.