KOLKATA: Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers put up another stupendous show at Eden Gardens as they inflicted a five-wicket defeat on Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who missed Hyderabad’s previous match against Mumbai Indians, was the standout performer with the ball as he picked up three wickets to break the spine of Kolkata.
Chasing a modest 139, Hyderabad got home, although with a bit of wobble, with skipper Kane Williamson top-scoring with 50.
Unlike the previous two matches, Sunil Narine didn’t open for Kolkata and instead, they experimented with Robin Uthappa and Chris Lynn. And the experiment didn’t really work as Bhuvneshwar removed the former in the third over and from there on Kolkata lost wickets at regular intervals.
Though Lynn anchored their innings with 49, he didn’t find any support from other end.
Even Andre Russell, who lit the skies in Chennai, failed miserably in front of the home crowd as Hyderabad’s attack piled pressure on the hosts with tight bowling.
Billy Stanlake and Shakib Al Hasan played their part, picking two wickets each, as Kolkata couldn’t even manage a par score on a pitch that had good assistance for bowlers.
Chasing 139, Hyderabad needed a good start and local boy Wriddhiman Saha provided one with a quickfire 24. Like Kolkata, even Hyderabad’s batsmen struggled for timing on this two-paced pitch, but Williamson showed his class, stroking 44-ball 50.
Though there were only four fours in his innings, he used his feet against spin to collect singles and twos.
Brief scores: KKR 138/8 in 20 ovs (Lynn 49, Karthik 29; Bhuvneshwar 3/26, Stanlake 2/21, Shakib 2/21) lost to SRH 139/5 in 19 ovs (Williamson 50, Shakib 27; Narine 2/17).
Roy hands Mumbai third straight defeat
MUMBAI: Jason Roy smashed an unbeaten 91 as Delhi Daredevils defeated Mumbai Indians by seven wickets in a last-ball thriller on Saturday.
Opener Roy made a mockery of a listless attack as he hammered six fours and as many sixes in his 53 ball knock to help Delhi overhaul the home team’s 194/7 for their first win of the season.
It was a third successive loss for Mumbai. With 11 needed in the final over, Englishman Roy hammered Mustafizur Rahman for four and a six, before playing out three dot balls.
Delhi needed one off the final ball and Roy hit it over the top and completed the run. Roy and skipper Gautam Gambhir had shared a 50-run stand for the first wicket.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 194/7 in 20 overs (Yadav 53, Lewis 48, Kishan 44, Christian 2/35, Tewatia 2/36, Boult 2/39) lost to Delhi Daredevils 195/3 in 20 overs (Roy 91 n.o, Pant 47, K Pandya 2/21).