Shakib Al Hasan
Shubman Gill hit a fine half-century to lay the foundation as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) defeated bottom-placed SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) by six wickets on Sunday.
Chasing a partly 116, Gill notched up 57 off 51 deliveries before Nitish Rana (25) and Dinesh Karthik (18 not out) took the two-time champions over the line in Dubai.
Gill, who scored his first fifty of the ongoing edition, said that his plan was to target the shorter side of the boundary. He also decided to make the most of Umran Malik's pace on a surface that was acting slow.
"It was important to assess the wicket. It wasn't easy to hit the spinners on this wicket. I was targeting the shorter side, and the leg-side was shorter than the off-side at one end. When I didn't have many runs under the belt, you don't want the opposition to gain the upper hand," Gill, who was named Player of the Match, said in the post-match presentation.
"When you play on slower wickets, it's more important to play with the wrists and that comes naturally to me. I took on the extra pace (of Umran) today and it came off in this game, but in another game it might not," he further said.
Eoin Morgan also heaped praise on Gill's knock and his players for "putting their heads up". Kolkata bowlers also fired in unison to restrict Hyderabad to a modest total. Tim Southee (2/26), Shivam Mavi (2/29) and Varun Chakravarthy (2/26) shared six wickets among them.
"The wicket played slower than we thought, than the wicket two nights ago. It swings early in the powerplay in these conditions, but it was sluggish. We needed to bowl and field well and we did. Shubman played extremely well and led the chase. The depth of the squad to be able to call Shakib is a huge luxury, so he has had a huge impact," said Morgan.
"We are focussed on playing good cricket and we've done that in the last three weeks. The game plan has had a good impact in the dressing room and guys are putting their hands up. We have done well to adapt to the slow conditions and I'm happy with that," he added.
With the win against Hyderabad, Kolkata held on to the fourth spot on the table with 12 points in 13 matches.
