By Neil Manthorp.
Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markram scored half centuries to ease the Sunrisers Hyderabad to a straightforward victory by seven wickets with 13 balls to spare in their IPL match against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Brabourne Cricket Stadium in Mumbai on Friday.
Tripathi smashed 71 from just 37 balls with four fours and half a dozen sixes to make light work of KKR’s 175-8 while Markram finished unbeaten on 68 from just 36 balls with six fours and four sixes. From 36-2 with just four balls of the Power Play to go, Sunrisers galloped to victory.
Earlier Nitish Rana’s half century and a late flourish from Andre Russell helped the Kolkata Knight Riders recover to a respectable total after being asked to bat first but excellent, incisive fast bowling from South Africa’s Marco Jansen (4-0-26-1) and 22-year-old Umran Malik (4-0-27-2) restricted the innings at crucial times.
Jansen had Australian T20 captain Aaron Finch (7) caught behind by ‘keeper Nicholas Pooran while Malik, bowling in excess of 150kph, bowled KKR captain Shreyas Iyer (28) with a perfect yorker.
Sunil Narine hit his first ball from left armer T.Natarajan (3-37) for six and his second straight to cover and the same bowler eventually accounted for Rana in the 18th over with another catch to Pooran, the batsman departing for 54 from 36 balls with six fours and two sixes.
Sunrisers captain Kane Williamson gambled by bowling left arm spinner Jagadeesha Singh in the final over and he took a wicket with his first ball but was then hit for two sixes and a four by Russell to give the innings a much-needed, late boost. Power-hitting Jamaican, Russell, belted four fours and four sixes in the closing overs to finish with an unbeaten 49 from just 25 balls.
But Tripathi and Markram were clinical in their choice of shot and execution and the Sunrisers now join a group of six teams on six points between second and seventh place including KKR who are fourth on net run-rate.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Aaron Finch, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Sheldon Jackson, Pat Cummins, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Aman Hakim Khan, Varun Chakaravarthy
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Kane Williamson(c), Rahul Tripathi, Nicholas Pooran, Aiden Markram, Shashank Singh, Jagadeesha Suchith, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Marco Jansen, Umran Malik, T Natarajan.