IPL 2019: Match 2, KKR vs SRH – Who Said What

The Eden Gardens in Kolkata was a witness to a jaw-dropping encounter between hosts Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). The game went right down to the last over where the visiting team bowed down to a storm named Andre Russell, who helped the Knight Riders to their first win of this season’s Indian Premier League (IPL) by six wickets.

Warner makes a stupendous comeback

The Sunrisers batted brilliantly after being put in to bat first as they racked up a significant 181 for three in 20 overs and it was possible, mostly because of their opening duo of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow. The left-right combo put on 118 runs for the opening wicket in 77 balls and undoubtedly set the platform for a blistering finish. Bairstow scored 39 runs in 35 balls on his IPL debut.

Warner, on his comeback game, didn’t look flustered and he came up with a masterful knock of 85 runs from 53 deliveries. His knock was carved with nine fours and three over-boundaries and he was eventually dismissed by pacer Andre Russell, who also castled Yusuf Pathan. Thereafter, Vijay Shankar played a decent hand of 40 runs from 24 balls and the knock propelled the Sunrisers’ score.

Russell and Rana script victory

Chris Lynn perished early as Shakib Al Hasan churned out his prized wicket in the second over. The Queenslander could only score seven from 11 balls. Then, Nitish Rana and Robin Uthappa brought sanity into the proceedings with a stand of 80 runs from 58 deliveries. Uthappa played some gorgeous strokes to score 35 runs from 27 balls, but he fell prey to fast bowler Siddarth Kaul.

Nitish Rana didn’t lose his cool and got to a fifty in 35 balls to keep the Knights in the hunt. Dinesh Karthik, the Knights’ skipper, couldn’t make an impact and got out to Sandeep Sharma. It was then the turn of Andre Russell to unfold utter mayhem in the SRH dugout with a knock of 49 from a mere 19 balls with four fours and as many sixes. Even Shubman Gill chipped in with 18 from 10 balls.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar said

It was a good game of cricket. Russell can take the game away from you. We were looking to take wickets, but didn’t execute our plans. We had enough runs, but defending is not easy. If we had taken wickets, we could have won. It’s all about execution. These sort of games early in the tournament help you. Captaincy was a good experience. Warner, Shakib and Jonny were helping me out. Warner has been outstanding for us and having him back is a good thing for us.

Dinesh Karthik, the KKR captain, said

I think SRH were ahead of the game in the 16th over. The way Russell pulled it off was very nice. As a team, I think we were definitely believing. He gave himself some time which is something he has been working on. I think Warner and Bairstow batted very well. We believed that if we could get one wicket, we could get more. I would like to be more fluent as a captain. The team understand that.

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