Kolkata Knight Riders went into Match 14 of IPL 10 on the back of a positive head-to-head against defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad. Eden Gardens continued to be a fortress that SRH couldn’t breach after the 40 overs were bowled with the statistic now stretching to 5-0. This is a record in the IPL with most wins at a venue against an opposition without a loss.
The difference between the two and margin for defeat would say 17 runs but there was a big difference between the two sides on the day. KKR looked convincing with the bat and with the ball and showed their prowess to win their first game after batting first – their previous two wins had been in a chasing effort.
Robin Uthappa (68) and Manish Pandey (46) starred with the bat after David Warner won the toss for SRH and put the home side in to bat. Lower down, Yusuf Pathan also chipped in with key runs to inflate the total. Uthappa and Pandey put together 77 runs for the third wicket and that snatched the game partially from the visitors. Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up three wickets for a second straight match – two of them with superb yorkers.
In reply, SRH lost wickets at key junctures even with the batsmen getting off to starts. That was the case with both openers Shikhar Dhawan (26) and David Warner (23). As Dhawan fell, the KKR spin attack took over and with runs drying down, SRH invited pressure which eventually got to Warner.
Thereafter Yuvraj Singh scored 26 with some nice, meaty hits before he, too, perished in an attempt at upping the ante. Both Moises Henriques and Deepak Hooda got 13 before they too fell with the target getting too high.
Gambhir praised the effort of the spinners and for being the difference on the day. “If we have spinners to bowl eight overs after the Powerplay, it’s a luxury especially with Kuldeep Yadav (1/23) spinning the ball both days,” he said in the post match presentation.
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