There was a threat of rain for the contest between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders. Instead, what poured was a torrent of runs via the prolific opening pair of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow. They scripted their fourth century partnership in nine matches — they also possess seven 50-plus partnerships — this Indian Premier League season with some scintillating strokeplay that shut Knight Riders out of the contest a bit too early when the chase was on at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
The chase was expected to be tricky but Warner and Bairstow banished both fast bowlers and spinners with ease to hand their team a nine-wicket victory with 30 deliveries to spare. The 100 was posted in just 52 deliveries.
In a hurry
The two batted as if they were scheduled to catch a late evening flight. It wasn’t a flawless effort by the duo, however, as Bairstow was dropped thrice — the first, when he was on 1; the second, when he was on 55; and the third, when he was on 58. Two of those drops were off Prithvi Raj, the left-arm pacer.
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When Warner was eventually dismissed bowled by Prithvi Raj, the rest of the chase was a mere formality. When Bairstow swung leg-spinner Piyush Chawla for two consecutive sixes in the 15th over, it was a perfect finish to the contest.
Earlier, put in to bat, Knight Riders was off to a bright start, Chris Lynn and southpaw Sunil Narine launching into some audacious strokes to compile 42 off just 16 balls. Narine treated left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed with disdain; in the previous over, he had collared spinner Shahbaz Nadeem, who went for 18 runs in his first over. Narine slashed him for a six, and unleashed the pull stroke and the inside-out stroke for fours.
Quick wickets
But to the delight of his team-mates and the near-capacity crowd, Khaleel dismissed Narine and Shubman Gill in quick succession to put the brakes. Soon after, Bhuvneshwar Kumar produced a beautiful delivery — he pitched the ball up and had it move away with extra bounce to force the in-form Nitish Rana to nick to wicketkeeper Bairstow.
Later, a superb fielding effort from Vijay Shankar from midwicket saw the usually quick Knight Riders captain stranded; he had been attempting a second run after playing a flick off Nadeem. A 51-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Lynn — who scored his ninth IPL half-century — and Rinku Singh gave hopes of a big total.
But Lynn perished to a brilliant, running catch by Kane Williamson at covers off Khaleel in the 17th over. A huge roar greeted the big-hitting Andre Russell but he perished quickly; after slamming two sixes off Bhuvneshwar in the 19th over, he was out going for another one in the same over.
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