Kolkata Knight Riders 130 for 7 (Yusuf Pathan 49, Dale Steyn 2-24)
Sunrisers Hyderabad 132 for 5 (Parthiv 47, Dhawan 42, Abdulla 3-29)
KKR’s fan following had increased considerably before their last match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Apart from their own fans, the whole of Bangalore was supporting them too and hoping them to sneak in a win so that RCB could make it to the play offs.
But, the fans don’t win matches for you. It’s your performance on the field which determines which side you are going to end up. KKR once again played very ordinary cricket and although, Sunrisers crumbled a bit at the end, they eventually grabbed those 2 points which they required for a place in the play offs.
It was another dead track at Uppal and Gautam Gambhir decided to put runs on the board after winning the toss.
The run scoring was always going to be difficult on that wicket. It was a 130-sort of a track and the KKR batsmen seemed to have known that. They didn’t go for glory shots. They just looked to hang in there.
The run rate of KKR never climbed. It remained around 5 and a half till the 17th over. In the last three overs, Yusuf Pathan connected a few and that helped KKR get to 130 which was close to par on that wicket.
In chase, the Sunrisers’ openers blazed and had an 89-runs partnership between them. The Knight Riders were looking completely out of the game until the first wicket fell.
The asking rate was just around 5 and it was an easy task for the Sunrisers. But, as usual, they panicked and let the game slip away.
Sunil Narine sneaked in a maiden over in the meantime and the asking rate went over 7. It was game on at Uppal and if anything, the Knight Riders had their noses in front just because of the nature of the pitch and the kind of bowlers that they had.
However, Darren Sammy used his power to good effect in the penultimate over and smashed Iqbal Abdulla for a couple of massive sixes to finish things off. The whole SRH team ran on the ground as they were through to the play offs.
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May 20th, 2013
abhishek rajan 

