Kolkata Knight Riders won the third match of IPL 14 against Sun Riser Hyderabad by 10 runs on Sunday thanks to the brilliant half-centuries of openers Nitish Rana (80) and Rahul Tripathi (53).
Chennai: Kolkata Knight Riders won the third match of IPL 14 against Sun Riser Hyderabad by 10 runs on Sunday thanks to brilliant half-centuries by openers Nitish Rana (80) and Rahul Tripathi (53). ۔ Kolkata scored a challenging 187 for five in 20 overs, while Hyderabad could score only 177 for five in 20 overs.
For Hyderabad, Manish Pandey scored 61 not out and Johnny Bairstow 55 runs. Abdul Samad hit two sixes in just eight balls and scored 19 not out. Manish Pandey hit a six off the last ball of Andre Russell in the last over of the innings, but it was not enough for Hyderabad to win. Besides, Vardhman Saha scored seven runs, Warner three runs, Muhammad Nabi 14 runs and Vijay Shankar 11 runs.
Earlier, openers Nitish Rana (80) and Rahul Tripathi (53) scored aggressive half-centuries to help Kolkata Knight Riders score a challenging 187 for five in 20 overs. Rana put on an excellent partnership of 53 runs in seven overs for the first wicket with Shabhman Gul (15). Gul was bowled by Charismatic League spinner Rashid Khan. Gul hit a four and a six off 15 balls for 15 runs. Rana then put on a formidable 93-run stand with Rahul Tripathi for the second wicket. Both batsmen hit brilliant fours and sixes during their innings. Rana completed his half century with a six.
Tripathi completed his half-century with a four, but soon after, he played the ball of left-arm pacer T Nitrajan high and was caught by wicketkeeper Radhman Saha. Tripathi hit five fours and two sixes in 53 off 29 balls. Andre Russell caught Manish Pandey in an attempt to play a big shot on Rashid's ball. Russell scored five runs off five balls.
After Russell's wicket fell, Rana lost his temper and caught Vijay Shankar off off-spinner Muhammad Nabi. Rana hit nine fours and four sixes in a brilliant innings of 80 off 56 balls. Captain Avon Morgan was caught by Abdul Samad on Nabi's ball after scoring just two runs.
Kolkata lost two wickets at 160. Dinesh Karthik scored 22 off two balls with the help of two fours and a six, while Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan fell victim to Bhuvneshwar on the last ball after scoring just three runs. For Hyderabad, Rashid Khan took two wickets for 24 runs in four overs, Mohammad Nabi took two wickets for 32 runs in four overs and Bhuvneshwar and Nitrajan took one wicket each.
