The second match of the Indian Premier League turned out to be a cracker contest, where Kolkata Knight Riders did an absolute jail-break. Andre Russell played a gem of an innings towards the end to take KKR over the line. Earlier, David Warner was in the good flow and scored 85 runs and took Sunrisers Hyderabad to 181/3 in 20 overs. Vijay Shankar played a crucial role and gave SRH a much-needed flourish towards the end.
KKR was not off to a great start and loss Chris Lynn early. Nitish Rana came to open the batting and took the match deep. It was Russell who smashed 53 runs in 18 balls to hand Kolkata a winning start of the season. Have a look at the reasons of defeat for SRH.
Also Read: Who will be the X factor for KKR in IPL 2019?
Poor death bowling
Sunrisers Hyderabad has the strongest bowling lineup in the tournament but they failed to do the job for their team in the season opener. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was captaining an IPL team for the first time but he went for 21 runs in the penultimate over of the match. Shakib Al Hasan couldn’t defend 13 runs in the final over and conceded the runs in four balls.
Dre Russ – the finisher
When everyone in the KKR dugout lost all hopes, their flamboyant all-rounder Andre Russell pulled his beast mode on. First, he picked two wickets with the ball; one of them was of David Warner. With bat in hand, Russell scored 49 runs in 19 balls, which includes four towering sixes and as many fours. In the end, the equations were down to 18 balls and 53 runs, but the Caribbean player didn’t give up and hand his team an unthinkable victory.
Also Read: Who will be the X factor for SRH in IPL 2019?
SRH’s poor finish
David Warner was playing in the Indian Premier League after missing the last one. He was well on course towards his fourth IPL hundred but fell before giving a final flourish to his team. Andre Russell dismissed him for 85 and sucked the life from SRH’s batting. In the final four overs, Hyderabad scored only 37 runs and finished at 181/3. Vijay Shankar tried his best to boost the score but the target of 182 didn’t prove enough for SRH bowlers to defend.
