The accurate attack by the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) bowlers against Kolkata Knight Riders batsmen not only helped SRH to win the match by 22 runs but it also provided them their spot in the qualifier 2 of IPL 9 at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium on Wednesday. They will now face Gujarat Lions in qualifier 2 to get the chance to play finals against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
While chasing the target of 163 Kolkata Knight riders innings never really took off and the wickets fell at regular intervals. Manish Pandey (36 off 28) and Suryakumar Yadav (23 off 15) tried to save innings a bit in the middle but they could not hold enough in front of the disciplined attack of the SRH bowlers. Skipper Gautam Gambhir (28 off 28) contributed at the start of the innings after Robin Uthappa failed to score bit. He made a 38-runs stand with Colin Munro (16 off 17) who got run out by a brilliant fielder Yuvraj Singh
The whole second innings was highlighted by the SRH bowling as the medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar taking 3 wickets conceding only 19 runs in his 4 overs. Moises Henriques, too, bowled well and took 2 wickets in three overs. Although Barinder Sran and Ben Cutting took 1 wicket each, they both bowled extremely well and stopped KKR innings before reaching to the target.
Earlier, the T20 specialist Yuvraj Singh played an outstanding knock of 44 runs in 30 deliveries taking SRH innings to a score of 162 after the foundation constructed by the skipper David Warner (28 off 28) and Moises Henriques (31 of 21). Yuvraj Managed to hold the SRH innings after the back to back blows of Warner and Henriques and made a good partnership with Deepak Hooda (21 off 13) and fought hard for a decent total. At the end, Bipul Sharma’s 14 in 6 balls with two maximums helped SRH innings to get par 160.
Kuldeep Yadav took 3 important wickets from KKR dismissing Warner and Henriques which brought KKR back into the game. Jason Holder and Morne Morkel too took 2 wickets each trying to lower down the SRH innings.
With the win, KKR is officially out of the tournament now. On the other hand SRH will look forward for a win against Gujarat Lions in qualifier 2 to reach the IPL 0 finals.
By Prajakt K.
