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Kolkata Knight Riders have started their campaign on a positive note as they beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 10 run in Chennai . This was the third match of the IPL 2021.
Earlier , SRH skipper David Warner won the toss and asked Kolkata Knight Riders to bat first. Needing a good start , an attribute that was missing in last year’s IPL in Dubai, KKR finally got a start with openers Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana. The duo put on 53 for the first wicket in just seven overs. Gill fell for 15, but it was Nitish Rana who stole the show with a brilliant 56 ball 80 studded with 9 fours and four sixes. he was well supported by Rahul Tripathi 53 off mere 29 balls with five fours and two sixes. The duo put on 93 for the second wicket. Hard- hitting Andre Russell was out for 5. Skipper Eoin Morgan fell for 2 . Shakib Al Hasan was out for 3. But a nice cameo by Dinesh Karthik unbeaten 22 off 9 balls saw KKR reach a fighting 187/6 in their 20 overs.
SRH bowlers struggled with their line and length . Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/45 ( 4 overs), Sandeep Sharma 0/35 ( 3 overs), Thangarasu Natarajan 1/37 ( 4 overs), Mohammad Nabi 2/32 ( 4 overs), Rashid Khan was at his usual best 2/24 ( 4 overs), Vijay Shankar 0/14 ( 1 over)
Needing a good start , SRH lost the plot early . Skipper David Warner after being dropped by Pat Cummins of Harbhajan Singh when on 0 failed to capitalise as he fell for 3 from a beauty from Prasidh Krishna. Wriddhiman Saha was out for 7. SRH were jolted in the chase at 10/2. Manish Pandey And Jonny Bairstow gave some hope with positive batting . Pandey remained unbeaten on 61 off 44 balls with 2 fours and three sixes. In terrific form Jonny Bairstow looked threatening and played a power packed innings during his stay in the middle . Bairstow stroked a entertaining 55 off 40 balls with five fours and three sixes be fore he fell to Pat Cummins. Cummins dismissal ended SRH hopes, . With no Kane Williamson , the target was a tough one. Mohammad Nabi ( 14), Vijay Shankar ( 11) and lusty blows towards the end by Abdul Samad not out out ( 19 ) were not enough. As SRH fell 10 runs short at 177/ 5 in their 20 overs.
KKR bowlers bowled well and bagged key wickets when needed most. Prasidh Krishna 2/35 ( 4 overs), Back in IPL after two years Harbhajan Singh bowled only 1 over for 8 runs. Shakib Al Hasan 1/34 ( 4 overs), Pat Cummins 1/30 ( 4 overs), Andre Russell 1/32 ( 3 overs), Varun Chakravarthy 0/36 ( 4 overs)
The win margin though was only 10 for KKR but they looked a settled unit and this was good all- round show. SRH needs Kane Williamson in the middle . There is worry when David Warner does not fire. Vijay Shankar is inconsistent . These are issues Warner and SRH management need to resolve quickly before their next match.
