2024-03-24 01:24:00
Kolkata: In the third match of IPL 2024, Kolkata Knight Riders have defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad. In a thrilling match, KKR won by 4 runs. Batting first, KKR had a bad start. But after a restrained half-century by wicketkeeper batsman Phil Salt, the team reached 208 runs for 7 wickets, thanks to Andre Russell’s stormy unbeaten 64 in 25 balls. After a fast start, Hyderabad lost wickets at regular intervals. At last Heinrich Klaasen’s storm was visible. But fast bowler Harshit Rana gave his team victory in the last over. Hyderabad could score only 204 runs for 7 wickets.
Heinrich Klaasen’s innings was useless
Heinrich Klaasen’s half-century of 63 runs studded with eight sixes had brought Sunrisers Hyderabad closer to victory. Klaasen was out on the fifth ball of the last over, otherwise the outcome of the match could have been different. Sunrisers Hyderabad, after a good start, were in trouble due to slow run rate after losing wickets in the middle. But Heinrich Klaasen’s brilliant inning of 29 balls and his partnership of 58 runs in 16 balls with Shahbaz Ahmed for the sixth wicket came close to victory and lost by just four runs.
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s score was 149 runs for five wickets after the 17th over. He needed 60 runs in 18 balls to win, the match was out of his hands. But in the next three overs, Klaasen hit six sixes and Shahbaz hit two sixes to bring his team closer to victory. Due to this, after the 19th over the score was 196 runs for five wickets and 13 runs were needed in six balls to win, which could have been scored comfortably.
Be happy the hero of victory
Harshit Rana, who took 3 wickets for 33 runs, bowled brilliantly in the last over, taking the wickets of both Shahbaz and Klaasen and giving just eight runs. Shahbaz scored 16 runs in five balls with one four and two sixes. Mayank Agarwal (32 runs) and Abhishek Sharma (32 runs) gave a good start to Sunrisers Hyderabad by making a partnership of 60 runs for the first wicket. After losing these two wickets, Sunrisers Hyderabad had scored 99 runs for two wickets in 10 overs.
After this, there was a need for a batsman to stay and play a long innings but Rahul Tripathi (20), Aidan Markram (18), Abdul Samad (15) could not live up to the expectations of the team. After batting, Russell also did wonders in bowling and took two wickets in his bag. Australia’s Mitchell Starc, the most expensive player of IPL, gave 53 runs in four overs but could not take any wicket. Varun Chakraborty and Sunil Narine got one wicket each.
Phil Salt took the lead in the beginning
Phil Salt was not sold in the IPL auction but he was included in the team in place of Jason Roy. After being invited to bat, he continued to play patiently after the initial shock and scored his third fifty in IPL in just 38 balls, but as soon as he tried to score runs quickly in the end, he fell victim to Mayank Markandey. Debutant Ramandeep Singh contributed 35 runs in 17 balls with one four and four sixes and Rinku Singh contributed 23 runs in 15 balls with three fours.
Finally got to see Russell’s show
Russell hit three sixes in five balls in the stand against leg spinner Markandey. Russell got a lease of life on 20 runs when Markandey’s ball was caught by Aiden Markram close to the ground at long on but the replays showed that it was touching the ground. This Jamaican batsman scored 26 runs in this over by hitting two fours and two sixes on Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Russell and Rinku Singh made a partnership of 81 runs in 33 balls as KKR added 85 runs in the last five overs. Russell, who scored fifty in 20 balls, scored 64 runs in 25 balls with the help of 7 sixes.
Shreyas Iyer could not open account
Left-arm bowler T Natarajan sent both Venkatesh Iyer and Shreyas Iyer to the pavilion. Natarajan and Bhuvneshwar kept KKR inside the powerplay by giving just 16 runs in four overs. Bhuvneshwar bowled brilliantly in the initial overs and lost only three runs. World number two T20 batsman Salt opened his arms by hitting three consecutive sixes on Marco Jansen. But Narine lost his wicket by mistake, after which Cummins introduced Natarajan who took the wickets of Venkatesh and Iyer.
Markandey made Nitish Rana his victim with a googly, due to which KKR’s score was 51 runs for four wickets in eight overs. But Salt kept scoring runs patiently and got good support from Ramandeep. Both made a partnership of 54 runs. Ramandeep hit a six after hitting a boundary on Cummins. Ramandeep hit three sixes on Markandey, Yansen and Shahbaz Ahmed. After this, Russell and Rinku increased the run pace and took KKR to 200 runs.