Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders displayed their sheer dominance over Sunrisers Hyderabad as they beat them by a huge margin of 48 runs at Eden Gardens here on Sunday.
Kolkata Knight Riders had a great start and skipper Gautam Gambhir went on to score a splendid 53 off just 45 balls. The final overs cameo (47 and 41 runs) from Eoin Morgan and Jacques Kallis helped the hosts post a humongous total of 180 on the board and gave KKR an upper hand. Later, Kallis continued his good work with the ball and picked up three wickets while Rajat Bhatia chipped in with two wickets.
Chasing the target, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) started off well and was looking good with the new opening duo of Parthiv Patel and Cameron White. They added 57 for the first wicket before Parthiv Patel fell after scoring 27 runs off 31 balls. SRH lost the plot when White and Kumar Sangakkara departed with just 71 runs to the team’s total. Kallis dismissed both the openers while Bhatia sent Sangakkara back to the dressing room.
Thisara Perera tried hard to rebuild the innings and was looking good with Ravi Teja. Thisara was scoring at brisk pace but Teja didn’t apply himself well and departed for just 10 runs. Perera kept on going from one end and tried hard to reduce the margin of defeat. He departed after scoring 36 off just 25 balls. SRH fell 48 runs short as they scored just 132 runs in their 20 overs.
Earlier, KKR started off brilliantly as Manvinder Bisla and Gautam Gambhir added 59 runs for the first wicket. Bisla departed after scoring good 28 runs off 24 balls but Gambhir carried on his prolific run and went on to score 53 off just 45 balls. His 53 was studded with six fours and one six.
Eoin Morgan and Jacques Kallis played a great cameo in the middle of the innings. They simply took the game away from SRH and slammed each and every bowler. Morgan smashed some massive sixes and was looking very dangerous in the final overs. He smashed five crisp boundaries and three sixes to score 47 off just 21 balls. Kallis complimented him well and scored 41 off 27 balls. Morgan got run out in the 19th over whereas Kallis was dismissed in the final ball of the innings.
By ISN