Sunrisers Hyderabad improved their Indian Premier League record with a 16-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in a rain-affected game at Visakhapatnam.
Sunrisers came into the game with a fine collection of players but in poor form, having won one of their previous four matches.
The England one-day captain Eoin Morgan was left out, as was Trent Boult who was arguably the best bowler of the World Cup. Dale Steyn was entrusted with the fast bowling responsibilities, while Moises Henriques also earned a start.
Kolkata brought in the South African off-spinner Johan Botha, who replaced the all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate.
After being put into bat by the Knight Riders captain, Gautam Gambhir, Sunrisers looked set for a massive total with the opening partnership of David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan putting on 130 runs.
The Australian contributed 91 from 55 balls, an innings that featured some wonderfully innovative shots. Dhawan played a relatively subdued supporting role by his standards, ceding the strike to Warner and only really launching his attacking shots after his partner was dismissed.
Warner was out after skying a Morne Morkel ball to the wicketkeeper Robin Uthappa, but, beyond the opening pair, the contribution was minimal from the rest of the line-up. Ravi Bopara scored a limp two and Moises Henriques seven, as 11 overs of Knight Riders spin and a fine penultimate over from Andre Russell pinned them back.
The heavens opened in the break between innings and a long mopping up effort was required before the Knight Riders could embark on their chase.
A little over 90 minutes was lost to the weather and the chase was reduced to 12 overs, with the Knight Riders set 118 to win.
They started slowly, with Steyn keeping it tight. Gambhir tried to make the running with some attempts at big-hitting but it did not come off and he was eventually bowled. While Uthappa (34 from 21) and Manish Pandey (33 from 24) fared a little better, they always faced an uphill task.
Some brilliant bowling, first by Bopara who dismissed the dangerous Andre Russell for 19 off 10 balls, then from Praveen Kumar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the closing overs, extinguished any hope.
They scored only 20 runs from the final three overs, falling 16 runs short of the target, and Warner’s Sunrisers collected a much-needed win.
