IPL 2021
Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi Helped KKR Win The First Game Against SRH
By CricShots - Apr 12, 2021 12:00 am
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Brilliant half-centuries from Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi helped the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to register their 100th IPL win over SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Chennai. Chasing 188 to win, SRH suffered the worst possible start as they lost David Warned and keeper Wriddhiman Saha inside the first three overs. However,  Jonny Bairstow announced himself with an inside-out six-off Shakib before Manish Pansey tonking the bowler over long-off.

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Jonny Bairstow and Manish Pandey kept SRH in the game

Bairstow and Pandey comfortably guided SRH to reach 2/60 after 8 as they also made a solid 50-run-stand for the 3rd wicket. The English swashbuckler brought up his half-century with a flat-six over midwicket off Varun Chakravarthy in the 12th over. He was eventually dismissed by Pat Cummins in the next over and then, Manish Pandey failed to keep up with the asking rate. Pandey smashed a six off Shakib in the next over but despite that shot, just 17 runs came off the two overs after Bairstow’s dismissal.

WATCH – Shubman Gill Smashes A Classic Six Against T Natarajan

SRH promoted Mohammad Nabi in the batting order by giving him the license of going on and tonk the bowlers, but his stay at eth crease was a short one as he mistimed an attempted a big shot on a slower delivery by Prasidh Krishna. Pandey brought up his 50 in 37 balls but it wasn’t enough for SRH to overhaul KKR’s total. However, Andre Russell held his nerve in the last over and ensured that he sealed a win for the Kolkata Knight Riders.

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Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi scored brilliant fifties

Batting first, the duo of Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana gave a dream start to KKR. Gill had welcomes, T Natarajan, with a welcome six. KKR raced their way to 0/50 after six overs before Rashid Khan getting the wicket of Gill, who was dismissed in the flight and dip.
However, Nitish Rana continued the momentum as he bought his 50 off 37 balls with a six.

Nitish Rana smashed a couple of sixes in the next two overs as KKR surpassed the 100-run mark 11.3 overs. Rahul Tripathi also smashed 53 in just 29 balls before tonking Bhuvneshwar Kumar all over the park. His onslaught finally came to an end after he skied an attempted smack the ball across the line against T Natarajan, only to see Wriddhiman Saha complete a juggling catch.

ALSO READ: Nitish Rana celebrates the Ozil way after scoring a fifty

Tripathi’s wicket caused a mini-collapse as Rashid Khan also got the wicket of Andre Russell once again while Mohammad Nabi claimed Nitish Rana (80 off 59 balls) and Eoin Morgan on successive deliveries. But Dinesh Karthik’s unbeaten cameo of 9-ball 22 ensured that Kolkata Knight Riders eventually posted 6/187 in 20.

Here is how Twitter reacted to KKR’s win: