IPL 9, Match 55 KKR v SRH – 5 Talking Points

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) took on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their last match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at Eden Gardens. This was a must win game for KKR to qualify for the playoffs and also a crucial encounter for the SRH to finish in the top two.

Sunrisers skipper, David Warner won the toss and put KKR into bat first. An unbeaten half-century by Yusuf Pathan and with contributions from Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey assisted them to post a total of 171. SRH found it hard to tackle the quality spin attack of KKR and ended up scoring 149 runs and KKR won by 22 runs to qualify for the playoffs.

1. Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan’s partnership:

After three wickets up front, Pathan came into the crease with KKR at 57 for 3. The duo batted sensibly rotating the strike with singles. Pandey took the aggressive route first. He was getting into positions very well, especially against Mustafizur Rahman. Playing Mustafizur, Pandey was moving his front leg and trying to work him through either mid-wicket or through the point region.

He was dismissed in the 16th over by Bhuvneshwar Kumar as he sliced a low full toss outside off and Kane Williamson tumbled but grabbed it at backward point. At the end of the inning, Yusuf remained unbeaten on 52 off just 34 balls with a strike-rate of 152.94 and was awarded as the ‘Man of the match’.

Also check out – Twitter Reactions: Yusuf Pathan powers Knight Riders into the playoffs

2. SRH bowlers pulled it in back in last five:

With 141 for 3 after 15 overs and with Yusuf Pathan and Manish Pandey at the crease, KKR would have expected them to post a total around 190-200. But, SRH bowled exceptionally well to just give away 30 runs off the last 5 overs. Bhuvneshwar, Mustafizur, and Barinder Sran bowled economically to help their side restrict the opposition under 180. Picking up the wickets of Pandey, Jason Holder and Shakib Al Hasan helped the cause.

3. Warner’s dismissal:

Warner has been the key for SRH. In the big chase tonight, SRH wanted him to score big and Gambhir knew it. The KKR skipper introduced spin very early, with 3 off the first 4 over being bowled by spinners. In the 4th over which was bowled by Sunil Narine, Warner, after hitting a six off the second ball of the over, stepped away outside leg and Narine pushes the off-spinner fuller and Warner misreads it to be bowled, which was a big blow for the Sunrisers.

How did the match pan out? – IPL 9, Match 55 Review: KKR ease past SRH to qualify for the playoffs

4. Middle-order collapse:

For the Sunrisers, apart from Shikhar Dhawan, none of them was able to contribute much to the score. Naman Ojha found it difficult even to rotate the strike after being promoted up the order to no.3. Ojha scored just 15 runs off 25 balls. Yuvraj Singh looked good in his short stay with a couple of sixes and a boundary. He scored 19 off 12 balls, but after his dismissal, none of them played with responsibility, which cost them the match.

5. Mystery is back with Narine:

Sunil Narine, the mystery spinner from West Indies who had been banned for the suspect and illegal bowling action earlier, after his comeback, seemed not as effective as earlier. But that was not the case today, he was on song and started off with the wicket of the opposition skipper, David Warner inside the powerplay.

After getting Warner in his first over Narine picked up the wicket of Naman Ojha, who was struggling for runs in his 3rd over. Ojha top-edged it behind and Robin Uthappa completed a comfortable catch. Later, in the 18th over of the match, which was his last, he had Moses Henriques bowled while he stepped down, swinging wildly, he missed and Narine finished 3/26 in his four overs.

Stats and records – IPL 9, Match 55: KKR v SRH – Statistical Highlights