The final day of the league stage saw Kolkata Knight Riders playing against an already-qualified Sunrisers Hyderabad. Kolkata Knight Riders needed to win the match to qualify while a win for SRH would have ensured their position in the top two.

Batting first KKR posted a target of 171 on a pitch which was looking good for the spinners.Chasing the target, SRH made a poor start as they lost their in-form captain David Warner cheaply, but then a 58 runs partnership between Shikhar Dhawan and Naman Ojha steadied the ship for the visitors.

But after the fall of the second wicket, SRH lost the plot and kept on losing wickets at regular intervals as they lost the match by 22 runs.
KKR captain, Gautam Gambhir credited his whole team for the win in the post match conference.

“Must-win game for us. Credit to the entire group. Yusuf’s form is important and he’s not flirting with it. His role has changed, but now we give him more overs. He’s mature and takes his time. When we started, 160 looked good and we looked set for 180-185. But we were happy with 170 too, given the pitch here. The point is to stay in the present and be up for it. We have to take a lot of confidence from this match which was almost a playoff. When you lose a player like Russell, it’s difficult to get the combination right but guys have put their hand up and performed well today.”