In the Qualifier 2 of IPL 2018, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) clinched a brilliant 14-run victory against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Eden Gardens (Kolkata) on Friday night and advanced to the final of the tournament. SRH scored 174/7 in 20 overs while KKR managed to score 160/9 at the end on 20 overs.
KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik decided to field first after winning the toss. SRH had a good start as their openers Wriddhiman Saha and Shikhar Dhawan put a 56-run partnership. But after their opening wicket fell, SRH lost their wickets in regular intervals.
Chasing down that target, KKR had a thrashing start as they scored 67/1 at the end of the powerplay. Opener Sunil Narine provided another good start as this time he scored 26 runs off just 13 balls and also provided a 40-run opening partnership with his partner Chris Lynn.
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Among the SRH bowlers, Rashid Khan was the best bowler with 4-0-19-3 bowling figure. Also, Siddarth Kaul (2/32) and Carlos Brathwaite (2/16) picked up two wickets each while Shakib Al Hasan (1/16) got one wicket.
Here are the hits and flops of the game:
HITS
Rashid Khan (SRH)
It was one of those days when Rashid Khan wreaked complete havoc into the opposition’s dug-out not only with the ball but also with the bat. Coming in, to bat, at no. 8 in the last three overs, Rashid smashed 34 in just 10 deliveries with the help of 2 fours and 4 sixes. While defending the target he picked the crucial wickets of, Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn and Andre Russell in three consecutive overs. he finished the game with the figures of 4-0-19-3. He was even named as the ‘Player of the match’.
Wriddhiman Saha (SRH)
After being dropped in the last few matches, it was a pressure game for Wrddhiman Saha but he kept his cool and helped his team to put up a fighting total. Opening the batting with Shikhar Dhawan, Saha stitched an opening partnership of 56 runs. After Dhawan’s dismissal, he continued the good work and played a crucial knock of 35 off just 27 balls with the help of five boundaries. he was dropped early in the innings by Dinesh Karthik when he was playing at a score of 5 in the third over of the innings.
Kuldeep Yadav (KKR)
Kuldeep Yadav has been bowling phenomenally well in the IPL 2018 and he continued the form in the second qualifier as well. He bagged the prized scalps of Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson in the same over which put the visitors on the back foot for quite a decent amount of time in the game. He finished the game with the spell of 4-0-29-2.
