Opener Shubman Gill (70 not out) and Eoin Morgan (42 not out) put up 92 runs for the fourth wicket to help Kolkata Knight Riders beat SunRisers Hyderabad by seven wickets with two overs to spare at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
Gill and Morgan helped KKR survive an early wobble in their chase of 143 after SRH dragged themselves to 142/4 wickets in 20 overs. KKR finished at 145/3 in 18 overs.
KKR lost opener Sunil Narine for a duck in the second over after which Nitish Rana smashed a quickfire 26 off 13 balls. Rana hit six fours in his short innings which provided a cushion for Morgan and Gill as they looked to regain control of the chase.
KKR were momentarily put on the backfoot after Rana and captain Dinesh Karthik fell in a relatively short period. While Rana was caught behind off T Natarajan in the fifth over, Karthik fell for a duck to Rashid Khan in the seventh. Gill and Morgan, however, settled down and regained control of the match. Gill hit five fours and two sixes while Morgan hit three fours and two sixes.
Earlier, SRH won the toss and chose to bat — the first time any team has done that this season. Manish Pandey top scored with 51 off 38 balls as SRH scraped their way to 142/4 in 20 overs.
Captain David Warner got to spend more time in the middle than he did in the previous match in which he faced just six balls before being dismissed. On Saturday, he scored 36 off 30 balls but fell to spinner Varun Chakravarthy just as he was looking to shift gears. His opening partner Jonny Bairstow successfully reviewed a caught behind decision that went against him off Pat Cummins only to be bowled the very next ball of the over. Wriddhiman Saha, who was included in the squad in place of the injured Vijay Shankar, never managed to get going and scored 30 off 31 balls.
KKR’s record buy Pat Cummins followed up his underwhelming show in the first match with a masterful performance on Saturday, returning miserly figures of 1/19 in four overs. Apart from Chakravarthy, Andre Russell was the third wicket taker for KKR, having accounted for the wicket of Manish Pandey.
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
