In the eighth match of the IPL 2020, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) registered their first victory in this IPL season after beating SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) by seven wickets (with 12 balls remaining) at Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium (Abu Dhabi)
SunRisers Hyderabad captain David Warner decided to bat first after winning the toss and managed to put 142/4 (20 overs) at the end of the first innings. In reply, KKR comfortably chased down that target in 18 overs after losing three wickets.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) innings
Opener Sunil Narine was dismissed for a duck. But another opener Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana set up the 37 runs partnership for the second wicket, where Rana scored a quick-fire 26 runs off 13 balls before losing his wicket in the fifth over.
Also, the KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik was dismissed by Rashid Khan for a duck. Struggling on 53/3, patience Gill controlled that innings with English limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan.
Gill and Morgan calmly built up the unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 92 runs as their batting set the fate of this match. Patience Gill completed his fifty in 42 balls while he remained not out on 70 runs off 62 balls (5 fours and 2 sixes).
On the other hand, at the end of the game, Morgan was batting on 42 runs off 29 balls (3 fours and 2 sixes) as he finished the match with a sixer and a four in back-to-back deliveries of T Natarajan.
Among the SRH bowlers, Khaleel Ahmed (1/28), T Natarajan (1/27) and Rashid Khan (1/25) got one wicket each.
IPL 2020, Match 8: Kolkata Knight Riders vs SunRisers Hyderabad (KKR vs SRH) – Scorecard (2nd innings)
SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) innings
Opener Jonny Bairstow was dismissed cheaply as Pat Cummins bowled him for just 5 runs. SRH skipper and opener David Warner then built up the 35 runs partnership with Manish Pandey for the second wicket. Varun Chakravarthy broke that partnership in the 10th over as he dismissed Warner for 36 runs through the caught and bowled.
Manish Pandey and Wriddhiman Saha set up the 62 runs partnership for the third wicket. Pandey completed his half-century in 35 balls. After scoring 51 runs off 38 balls, Pandey was dismissed by Andre Russell at the crucial time in the 18th over.
In the final over of that innings, Saha was run out after scoring 30 runs off 31 balls.
KKR pacer Pat Cummins, the Aussie pacer who was expensive in the last game, had the impressive bowling figures in this match which were 4-0-19-1. Other KKR bowlers were also very disciplined in that entire innings.
IPL 2020, Match 8: Kolkata Knight Riders vs SunRisers Hyderabad (KKR vs SRH) – Scorecard (1st innings)
IPL 2020, Match 8: Kolkata Knight Riders vs SunRisers Hyderabad (KKR vs SRH) – Twitter Reactions
He should be the captain of KKR – @RealShubmanGill.
— Kevin Pietersen? (@KP24) September 26, 2020
Comfortable win for @KKRiders bowling was on point. And how good was @RealShubmanGill ? Morgan batting well in the middle overs makes kkr a team to watch out for this season in ipl #IPL2020
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) September 26, 2020
Early days but I feel Rashid Khan getting just 1 wicket in eight overs in two matches is going to give SRH headache. Their batting was never strongest . #SRHvKKR #SRHvsKKR #KKRvsSRH
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) September 26, 2020
Good fine innings from @RealShubmanGill
Very well playing young man#KKRvSRH pic.twitter.com/e4F3KfgOfe
— Vinod Kambli (@vinodkambli349) September 26, 2020
Good captainship from @DineshKarthik Rotated the bowlers nicely,Kept extra overs in the bank for the later part of the game . #IPL below par score this by #SRH 8 overs from bhuvi and Rashid has to be wicket taking ones
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) September 26, 2020
If Saha was a better option than Priyam and Abhishek, he should’ve played the first game. If they were better equipped, one of them should’ve batted ahead of him tonight. First game after such a long hiatus is tough on players. #SRH #SRHvKKR
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) September 26, 2020
Kane Williamson watching wriddhiman Saha batting ..#KKRvSRH pic.twitter.com/5yFSq4Tp1J
— भावNA (@The_bhawna) September 26, 2020
Me throughout SRH innings #KKRvSRH pic.twitter.com/x6KB1wWRgp
— Baandya (@Bahut_Scope_Hai) September 26, 2020
Today #KKRvSRH pic.twitter.com/bHQ0OkyhwQ
— memepremii (@hiteshrathore31) September 26, 2020
#KKRvSRH
After seeing Wriddhiman Saha score
Le pujara:- pic.twitter.com/7tMYXZldCb— Adisunman (@Adisunman) September 26, 2020
Let me remind you it was Kane Williamson as a captain when SRH used to defend low totals
SRH need him right now#KKRvSRH pic.twitter.com/QF317pZCS9— Ravi Shastree (@adam_styris) September 26, 2020
#KKRvSRH@ChennaiIPL plays test in T20
@SunRisers pic.twitter.com/gRLTcEvWhY— Vinit Choudhary (@ConfusedBabua) September 26, 2020