Nitish Rana
Imposing knocks by Nitish Rana (80) and Rahul Tripathi (53) and a late surge from Dinesh Karthik (22) helped the two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders beat Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL 2021 opening on Sunday. After being put to bat first, the Kolkata outfit posted an intimidating total of 187/6 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
In reply, Sunrisers Hyderabad were able to gather just 177 on the scoreboard, handing a 10-run victory to the Eoin Morgan-led side. Half-centuries from Jonny Bairstow (55) and Manish Pandey (61*) didn't help the Orange Army in chasing down the total on a decent batting wicket.
Hyderabad were jolted with early blows in the form of David Warner (3) and Wriddhiman Saha (7). After Manish and Bairstow's batting show, 19-year-old Abdul Samad smashed two sixes and a four in the penultimate over bowled by Pat Cummins. However, with 22 required off last over by Andre Russell, he couldn't take his side past the finishing line.
With this win, Kolkata also became the third team after Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings to record 100 IPL wins. While defending champions MI are on 120 triumphs, CSK have 106 under their belt.
Earlier, Rana, who looked in sublime touch, didn't shy away from opening up his arms. The left-hander put up 93 runs off just 50 balls for the second wicket with Tripathi before the latter eventually fell to Natarajan.
At one point, it looked like the KKR batting unit could easily breach the 200-run mark. However, the Afghanistan duo of Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi faltered KKR's run-flow on the Chepauk surface.
Rashid, at his usual best, troubled the opposition with his googlies and ended up with figures of 2/24 in his four overs. Nabi also chipped in with two wickets and got rid of Rana and Eoin Morgan (2) off successive balls in the 18th over.
Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 187/6 in 20 overs (Nitish Rana 80, Rahul Tripathi 53; Rashid Khan 2/24)
Sunrisers Hyderabad 177/5 in 20 overs (Manish Pandey 61*, Jonny Bairstow 55; Prasidh Krishna 2/35)
