After their implosion while going for extravagant shots in their opening match, Sunrisers Hyderabad batsmen were far more circumspect against the Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday as they ended up with 142/4 in 20 overs. It seemed skipper David Warner’s words of not giving away one’s wicket cheaply was taken onboard by Manish Pandey, who anchored the innings, scoring 51 in 38 balls. Pandey, who came in after the dismissal of opener Jonny Bairstow, batted till the 18th over, fully aware of the fact that the 2016 champions have a brittle middle-order. It was a smart knock by the former KKR batsman, only going after loose deliveries and he ran well between the wickets as well.
The rest of the batters did not light the stage on fire. The skipper was looking in fine fettle, and seemed intent on leading from the front. While he was batting in tandem with Pandey, the run-rate was also on the higher side. But a soft dismissal of mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy derailed the momentum of the innings.
Wriddhiman Saha, brought in to replace Vijay Shankar, tried to force the issue but could not connect most of the time. KKR bowlers deserve credit as well. One of the best decisions taken by skipper Dinesh Karthik was giving the ball to record purchase Pat Cummins, who got rid of Bairstow in his second over. Brief scores: Hyderabad 142/4 in 20 ovs (Pandey 51, Warner 36) vs Kolkata.