Hyderabad caught in spin web, crash to Knight Riders
In a match where getting the openers cheaply was key to winning, Umesh Yadav convincingly sealed the issue for Kolkata Knight Riders with an opening burst of two wickets in the space of four deliveries in the first over.
Only Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner could have anchored a chase of 167 on a twopaced Eden Gardens wicket, but Yadav bowled him with a delivery that moved away after pitching. He then doubled the pain for Hyderabad by dismantling Naman Ojha’s stumps. Shikhar Dhawan’s IPL nightmare stretched one more match after he guided a half-tracker from Brad Hogg to Manish Pandey at square-leg. The result was a formality from that point.
The burning question for both teams before the match was how their middle-orders would fare if called into action. Hyderabad’s implosion might have made KKR look better in this department but worries remain for the defending champions. STUNNING CATCH Happily picking runs off the pacers, KKR’s opening duo looked in absolute control till Gautam Gambhir fell to an edged skier yet again and Robin Uthappa was caught stunningly by Warner at cover. The quick dismissals of Andre Russell and Ryan ten Doeschate followed.
However, it was the display of the Indians that should keep KKR on the edge. Yusuf Pathan unleashed some hits in the end but there was a time when he could neither get boundaries nor rotate the strike. Suryakumar Yadav departed trying to reverse sweep two balls into his innings.