Shubman Gill and Eoin Morgan stitched a crucial partnership of 92 runs to help Kolkata Knight Riders seal a comfortable seven-wicket win over SunRisers Hyderabad in their second clash of the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
The David Warner-led side won the toss and opted to bat first.
SunRisers Hyderabad lost opener Jonny Bairstow, who is celebrating his 31st birthday today, cheaply for five runs.
Bairstow’s opening partner Warner joined forces with first drop Mayank Pandey and the duo then stitched a short stand of 35 runs before the SRH skipper handed a return catch to bowler Varun Chakravarthy to depart for 36 runs.
Pandey then not only notched up a half-century off 35 balls, but also shared a crucial stand of 62 runs with Wriddhiman Saha to help SRH post a decent total of 142 for four on the scoreboard.
For KKR, Pat Cummins, Varun and Andre Russell bagged a wicket each.
Chasing the target, the Kolkata-based franchise lost Sunil Narine and skipper Dinesh Karthik for a duck. Though Nitish Rana began his innings with boundaries, his cameo of 13-ball 26 runs came to an end after he was caught by Saha behind the wicket off T Natarajan delivery.
Opener Shubhman Gill then hammered a blistering half-century of 70 runs, including five boundaries and two sixes, besides sharing a crucial unbeaten stand with Eoin Morgan (42) to take KKR past the mark in just 18 overs.
Khaleel Ahmed, Natarajan and Rashid Khan took a wicket each for SRH.
Shubman Gill was declared ‘Man of the Match’ for his good show with the bat.
KKR will next lock horns with Rajasthan Royals on September 30, while SRH will square off with Delhi Capitals in their next match a day earlier.
Brief scores: SRH 142/4 in 20 overs (Manish Pandey 51, David Warner 36; Andre Russell 1/16, Pat Cummins 1/19) lost to KKR 145/3 (Shubman Gill 70 not out, Eoin Morgan 42 not out; Rashid Khan 1/25, T Natarajan 1/27) by seven wickets
Source: Zee News