Twitter Reactions: Shubman Gill's patient 70* takes KKR home against SRH

Morgan's 42* and KKR bowlers were also equally crucial in their victory.

By Aditya Gajanan Kukalyekar verified

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2 Min Read

Shubman Gill
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Shubman Gill. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have shurgged off their poor show in the opening game and defeated the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) comfortably in the match 8 of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). Shubman Gill was the hero for the KKR with his unbeaten 70-run knock in a tricky chase of 143. The SRH bowlers couldn’t defend the below-par total and their batsmen were to blame for not posting a decent total on the board with the bat.

After opting to bat first, SRH lost Jonny Bairstow early with Pat Cummins castling him in the fourth over of the innings itself. David Warner and Manish Pandey then played cautiously to add 35 runs for the second wicket. Just when it felt as if the SRH skipper would go berserk and play big, Varun Chakravarthy got the better of him. Warner’s wicket in the 10th over, led to the Hyderabad team not scoring runs quickly when required.

KKR bowlers did well to keep a lid on the run-scoring in the middle overs and many were left baffled to see Wriddhiman Saha in the middle. Expectedly, he too couldn’t up the ante when it mattered the most, the SRH just crawled when the spinners bowled. Pandey, however, impressed during his stay in the middle and whatever runs they scored, it was due to his efforts.

He deservedly got to his half-century off 35 deliveries but got out to Andre Russell in the penultimate over of the innings. His wicket didn’t allow SRH again to score quickly though Mohammad Nabi came out and played a decent cameo scoring 11 runs with two fours. Eventually, they managed to reach 142 runs for the loss of four wickets in their 20 overs.

Gill and Morgan bat well to see KKR through

In response, KKR lost Sunil Narine pretty early in the innings which generated more interest in the game. To make things worse, their skipper Dinesh Karthik also bagged a duck and only moments before his dismissal, Nitish Rana had gone back to the hut after playing a small cameo of 26 runs off 13 balls. At 53/3 in the 7th over, things looked good for SRH for a famous comeback.

Their ace spinner Rashid Khan had struck in the very first over of his spell and one felt, he can run through the opposition line-up. However, that wasn’t the case. Shubman Gill soaked in all the early pressure and played the waiting game early on. He got the experienced Eoin Morgan at the other end and the duo made sure there were no more hiccups in the chase.

They first rotated the strike with not much pressure of the asking rate and then churned out boundaries at the right time to bring the runs required below the balls left. Gill, especially was impressive displaying his class with the bat and he remained unbeaten on 70 off 62 with five fours and a couple of sixes. Morgan proved his capability as well to remain not-out on 42 off 29 balls with three fours and two maximums.

Eventually, KKR gunned down the total of 143 runs in only 18 overs itself with seven wickets in hand and SRH were left ruing their slow batting earlier in the day.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

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IPL 2024Kolkata Knight RidersSunrisers Hyderabad