Kolkata Knight Riders overcame the biggest challenge in the IPL 2018 as they managed to defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad at their home ground where they have an overwhelming record. This was a must-win match for Kolkata Knight Riders as a win confirmed their place in the playoffs. A loss would have meant that KKR would rely on other results. The five-wicket win takes them to the playoffs now.

The turning point of the match occurred in the first innings of the match itself as Kolkata Knight Riders managed to contain Sunrisers Hyderabad to a decent total when at one stage they were running away with it. After the first 15 overs, SRH was at 141/2 and looked all set to cross 200 run-mark.

The home team then lost the well-set Shikhar Dhawan who was batting on 50. In the next over, they lost their big hitter at the end, Yusuf Pathan also cheaply. With Carlos Brathwaite and Manish Pandey at the crease, at least 190 was possible with 161/4 from 18 overs.

Russell bowling the penultimate over gave away only seven runs and took one wicket. Last over was entrusted to Prasidh Krishna. On the first delivery of the last over, Pandey slogged a low full-toss towards the leg side which was exceptionally taken in the deep by Rinku Singh. On the fourth delivery of the over, Shakib Al Hasan’s attempt to pull the ball saw him hitting it tamely to Sunil Narine at short fine-leg.

On the penultimate delivery of the over, Rashid Khan sent the ball high into the air which was taken by Dinesh Karthik near the boundary. Krishna ended up with bowling figures of 4-0-30-4. Krishna bowled three out of four overs in the last five overs of the innings, which in itself speak highly about his performance. He also returned the captain’s trust on him with full interest.

Kolkata found the target easy to chase off and managed it with five wickets in hand. They are now through to the playoffs.