It turned out to be a thoroughly professional performance from the Sunrisers Hyderabad as they thrashed Kolkata Knight Riders by 9 wickets and with 5 overs to spare to get their campaign back on track. The net run rate of Hyderabad has gone sky high especially after big victories against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders today. Yet again the SRH opening duo of Jonny Bairstow and David Warner proved to be the difference between the two teams.
It was KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik who won the toss and surprisingly opted to bat first. Chris Lynn an Sunil Narine got them off to a sensational start as they raced off to 40 in 2.2 overs. Sunil Narine struck a quickfire 25 of just 8 deliveries to get his side off to a flying start. It was Khaleel Ahmed who held his nerves in the end and castled Narine with good slower delivery.
Shubhman Gill came out in the middle to join Chris Lynn as Robin Uthappa was omitted from the Playing XI. Gill was dismissed early as KKR were in a spot of bother after a great start. Lynn went on to score a half-century but failed to find the big shots which never really allowed KKR to press on the accelerator. Andre Russell was kept in the dugout for a long time and there has simply been no reason why Russell has been asked to bat so lower down in the order.
David Warner and Jonny Bairstow started off brilliantly with a few delightful shots. Jonny Bairstow was dropped by KC Cariappa in the first half of the innings which proved to be the turning point of the match. Prithvi Raj, the debutant bowled brilliantly but for no luck. The two openers on the other end went hammers and tongs and found the gaps on a consistent basis.
Within the first 6 overs Hyderabad raced off to 72 and the match was more or less done and dusted from there on. Warner went onto complete a brilliant half-century and got the perfect support from Jonny Bairstow. The opening pair shared a mammoth 131 runs stand in 12.2 overs to almost get the job done for Hyderabad.
Eventually, Jonny Bairstow stayed there till the end and remained unbeaten on 80 of 43 deliveries which included 7 fours and 4 sixes. Dinesh Karthik was apparently very disappointed at the post-match presentation and said they were outplayed in every department of the game today.
Now here is what losing skipper Dinesh Karthik said at the post-match presentation
I think 160 was a par score on this wicket. I think they (Warner and Bairstow) batted really well but I our fielding cost us. And after that dropped catch he came at us all guns blazing. A wicket of Bairstow would have felt better, feel for the guy (Yarra Prithviraj).
We have been outplayed in this game. Having said that our bowling has been off-colour in the tournament. Our fielding needs a lot of improvement too. We had to give Kuldeep a break and get him back fresh.