Mitchell Starc‘s blistering pace and Varun Chakraborty’s spin skills helped Kolkata Knight Riders bundle out Sunrisers Hyderabad by 159 runs in the Indian Premier League Qualifier 1 at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday. Starc made Sunrisers regret his decision to bat after winning the toss. SRH are known for their fearless high scores in the first six overs. But Starc’s pace thrashed the Hyderabad batsmen in the powerplay. KKR chase down the target in 13.4 overs to enter the final of IPL 2024.
On the second ball of the first over, with a bit of late outside movement, Starc dismissed Travis Head in two balls and drew first blood.
In the next over, both the openers were back in the dugout. Vaibhav Arora surprised Abhishek Sharma as the ball did not come as fast as the youngster expected.
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Shah Rukh Khan, Suhana Khan, Abram Khan & Pooja Dadlani celebrating after 2 back to back wickets 🔥💜#ShahRukhKhan #KKRvsSRHpic.twitter.com/BVX8JqQ41x
— Shah Rukh Khan Warriors FAN Club (@TeamSRKWarriors) May 21, 2024
Gambhir represents the mood rn 🔥#KKRvsSRH
pic.twitter.com/r5Na7yQU2Q— Johns (@JohnyBravo183) May 21, 2024
Abhishek (3) misses his shot and the ball goes to Andre Russell.
Starc, with his sheer speed, bowled Rahul Tripathi in front of the stumps with a yorker.
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Despite appeals, the umpire did not raise his finger. KKR decided not to review the decision and in the replay after the incident it was confirmed that the ball missed the stumps.
Even after facing defeat, Starc was not deterred from taking wickets. In his third over in the Powerplay, he took back-to-back wickets to put KKR completely in the driver’s seat.
In the fifth over, Nitish Reddy (9) tried to create space for himself. But he pulled a thick outside edge that went straight to the keeper behind the stumps.
Next ball, Starc topples Shahbaz Ahmed at mid-wicket.
KKR co-owner Shah Rukh’s children Suhana Khan and AbRam Khan celebrated the fall of the wicket. Shah Rukh looked happy but calmer than his sons. Meanwhile, KKR’s mentor Gautam Gambhir. Also wildly celebrated.
SRH ended the Powerplay with a score of 45/4 which marked their third lowest Powerplay score for SRH this season.
From there, Tripathi and Heinrich Klaasen put on a 62-run partnership off just 37 balls. Tripathi finds the fence for a boundary after a reverse sweep for his 12th IPL half-century.
But Klaassen’s Achilles heel came back to bite him. His struggles against spinners were once again evident. Varun Chakraborty lured the power hitter to slog but Klaassen couldn’t find the ideal connection.
He tries to clear the boundary but Rinku Singh makes no mistake at deep mid-wicket. Klaassen returned with a score of 32(21).
Abdul Samad came in, hit a maximum off the very first ball and made his intentions clear to the KKR bowlers.
On the very first ball after the timeout, Samad once again cleared the ropes off Sunil Narine. Tripathi (55) was run out on the next ball. Samad cut the ball and kept running while Tripathi stood watching the ball.
By the time he realized the situation, Russell had sent the ball to Gurbaz, who comfortably cleared the bails outside the stumps.
In a moment of desperation, SRH brought in Sanveer Singh as an impact option. Narine thwarted SRH’s plans as Sanveer tried to clear the turning ball. The ball rolled off his pad and hit the stumps. SRH’s impact sub returns for a golden duck.
With five overs to spare, the onus fell on Abdul Samad to take SRH to a competitive score.
However, a slow ball from Harshit Rana caught Samdal off guard and ended his stay at the crease on 16(12).
Chakraborty dismissed Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a wicket in four balls on a sharp spin ball.
Captain Pat Cummins knocked back KKR with a knock of 30(24). But he fell to Russell in the last over as SRH were bowled out for 159 runs.
Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 159 (Rahul Tripathi 55, Henrik Klaassen 32; Mitchell Starc 3-34) Vs. Kolkata Knight Riders.
