Well that was a thrashing. That fast start from the KKR batsmen and Yusuf Pathan’s late hitting proved key, but the bowlers were excellent to a man. KKR go third in the table, but in truth it wasn’t that meaningful a match. Still the search for consistency goes on for the Sunrisers.
Thanks for reading. Bye!
KKR win by 35 runs
20th over: Sunrisers 132-9 (Steyn 1, B Kumar 11) target 168 Russell is going to bowl the final over. He starts with a couple of back-of-a-length cutters, which Praveen can’t connect with. An outswinger brings another dot. He’s bowling without using his front arm here, after he hurt his left shoulder earlier. Steyn comes in for the departed Kumar and gets a single, before Bhuvi swings and misses at the last ball.
Wicket! P Kumar c Yadav b Russell 12
Short ball, Praveen looks to ramp it and pops the catch to Yadav at short third man.
19th over: Sunrisers 131-8 (P Kumar 12, B Kumar 11) target 168 Yadav again and he gives Bhuvi a nice juicy half volley, which the batsman whacks over extra cover for a one-bounce four. Then a straight slog down the ground for six more, before he runs a single down to third man. Praveen backs away and slaps to cover for two, before slogging a single to long-on to end the over. 37 needed from the final over. Oh well.
Updated
18th over: Sunrisers 117-8 (P Kumar 9, B Kumar 0) target 168 Finally, the hundred comes up as Karn Sharma slogs to long-off, where Pandey fingertips it over the rope for six. Six more as Botha drops short and gets dragged way over mid-on. Three in a row, make it, this time a slog-sweep over mid-wicket. The fourth one he bowls wider and Karn goes again, but doesn’t get hold of it and it plugs at long-on; they run two. A wide, then the fun comes to an end.
Wicket! K Sharma c S Yadav b Botha 32
The fun comes to an end as he goes for a fourth six of the over, but can only find the long-on fielder a foot in from the rope. Yadav holds it easy as pie.
17th over: Sunrisers 92-7 (P Kumar 9, K Sharma 12) target 168 Brad Hogg into his final over with 2-13 so far. Make that 2-17 from four. You know the drill. Four singles etc. 72 needed from 18 balls.
16th over: Sunrisers 92-7 (P Kumar 7, K Sharma 10) target 168 Botha again. Two singles and then Uthappa misses a stumping, the ball cannoning out of his gloves after Karn Sharma had a big swing that connected with air and no more. Two more singles.
15th over: Sunrisers 88-7 (P Kumar 5, K Sharma 8) target 168 Russell is back on the field but there’s no need to bring the seamer back, because spin is working wonderfully. Praveen Kumar is beaten all ends up by the wrong’un, but it spoils the Australian veteran’s figures a touch as it skids away off the edge for four.
Wicket! Henriques c Pandey b Hogg 41
A slog-sweep takes the toe end of the bat and Brad Hogg’s eyes light up with glee as he realises what an easy catch this will be on the edge of the circle for Pandey.
14th over: Sunrisers 81-6 (Henriques 41, K Sharma 6) target 168 It’s Chawla again. Watching the batsmen try to play him is akin to watching you OBOer back in A level maths. Henriques is trying to slog but just can’t get hold of it. Again, six singles from the over. It’s been six overs now since we had a boundary.
13th over: Sunrisers 75-6 (Henriques 38, K Sharma 3) target 168 They can’t get spin away and it seems that seam is a problem too now. Henriques mistimes a clump down the ground off Yadav and is lucky to do so as it goes to the fielder on the bounce. Six runs from the over, all in singles. That’s not really good enough.
12th over: Sunrisers 69-6 (Henriques 34, K Sharma 0) target 168 Is there any finer sight in T20 than death by spin? I’ll be honest, I smiled at that wicket, so comprehensively outthought was the batsman. The required rate is beyond 12 now. Three runs from the over and the decision to push for a fourth proves fatal.
Wicket! B Sharma run out 1
Bipul Sharma is short of his ground, coming back for a second run to deep mid-wicket. The big question is whether Uthappa flicked the bail off with his the webbing of his glove before he had the ball. It’s a split-second thing, this is really tight, but my instinct says it’s out. Yep he’s gone!
Wicket! Vihari st Uthappa b Chawla
Another slow, tortured innings comes to an end. Vihari misreads the straight one, practically sprints past it and keeps on running.
11th over: Sunrisers 66-4 (Henriques 34, Vihari 5) target 168 Back comes Hogg with 1-3 from his first over and his first ball surprises Vihari as it spits up at him. They’re going upstairs to check a stumping a couple of balls later – Henriques stepped forward and missed out with a slog-sweep, but just about got his toe back down in time. Uthappa was very keen on this one, but the batsman’s safe. Another over of spin, another three singles from it.
10th over: Sunrisers 63-4 (Henriques 33, Vihari 3) target 168 The pressure is building on Henriques here as the KKR spinners seem to have the measure of everyone else in the lineup. In fact he’s lucky here as Chawla gets one to turn a long, long way outside off, it takes the inside edge and nutmegs the batsman its way narrowly past the stumps. A single to leg-slip, one of four from the over.
Eoin Morgan has just two 50+ scores in four seasons of IPL. He's getting picked on reputation and hope, instead of current ability.
— Alt Cricket (@AltCricket) May 4, 2015
9th over: Sunrisers 59-4 (Henriques 31, Vihari 1) target 168 We’re going to have an over of ten Doeschate’s collywobblers now. Eoin Morgan’s innings is mercifully euthanised off the first ball. The new man is Vihari, but the most noteworthy news is that Russell is back on the field. That’s a surprise as he looked in great pain when he went over on his shoulder; we’ll have to wait and see if he’s fit to bowl though. Four singles from the over.
Eoin Morgan, all scores in this #IPL: 27, 1, 32*, 5. #KKRvSRH #KKR #SRH
— Freddie Wilde (@fwildecricket) May 4, 2015
Wicket! Morgan run out 5
Morgan cuts straight to Gambhir at cover. The single is never on, they go for it anyway and, even though the captain fumbled slightly, Morgan is a yard short.
8th over: Sunrisers 55-3 (Henriques 29, Morgan 5) target 168 The fourth spinner of the innings will be Piyush Chawla. Right now. Morgan, who’s scratching around like he’s locked in a tent filled with mosquitos, scrambles him away for a single. Henriques does the same and then Morgan knocks the final ball into the leg-side for a third.
7th over: Sunrisers 52-3 (Henriques 28, Morgan 3) target 168 Six much-needed runs to Henriques as he smacks a short one from Yusuf Pathan over mid-wicket. Slightly odd decision to take the foot off the throat with the part-timer here, although the commentators are probably right to suggest they’re getting rid of the overs that Russell is unable to bowl. Henriques chips to mid-on for a couple more, smashes the next ball over long-on for six more, then whips four through mid-on. 19 from the over.
6th over: Sunrisers 33-3 (Henriques 10, Morgan 2) target 168 That looks like it was a good call by Erasmus on the LBW shout last over, but Morgan was so late in reading it. He still looks utterly shot and gets a leading edge playing straight, then finally gets off the mark with a single nudged round the corner for one.
#IPL wkts after 40 years.... 24 Shane Warne 22 Pravin Tambe 17* Brad Hogg 13 M Muralidharan 2 Sanath Jayasuriya 1 Adam Gilchrist #KKRvsSRH
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) May 4, 2015
5th over: Sunrisers 29-3 (Henriques 8, Morgan 0) target 168 Spin from both ends, in fact, as the veteran Brad Hogg comes in. He was magnificent against the Super Kings two matches ago, taking 4-17. If he does similar tonight then KKR are going to win. This is really good, tight bowling and he concedes just three singles, before he sends down one bad delivery... that brings the wicket! Morgan is so, so close to a golden duck too as he goes back and gets struck on the pad, but Erasmus indicates it was a fraction too high.
Wicket! Dhawan c Pandey b Hogg 15
Ugh, this is awful. It’s a slow, long hop from Hogg that Dhawan simply paddles to the man at square-leg.
4th over: Sunrisers 26-2 (Henriques 6, Dhawan 14) target 168 Spin now and it’s Johan Botha. Henriques knocks him off the back-foot, into the on-side for a single, then there’s half a shout for LBW against Dhawan but it’s going a long way down leg. Just three from that over.
3rd over: Sunrisers 23-2 (Henriques 4, Dhawan 13) target 168 You will not be surprised to hear that Yadav is getting a second over. His first ball is full and smacked through extra cover by Dhawan for a boundary. It’s fair to say this is a rollocking start to the innings and Yadav beats Dhawan with the next ball, just seaming it away from the outside edge. A couple more dots, then Dhawan clips square for four more; Russell just failed to prevent the boundary with his slide and, in rolling over the rope, he looks to have hurt his shoulder pretty badly. He’ll not bowl again today, I’d wager, as Pat Cummins comes on as the substitute fielder.
2nd over: Sunrisers 15-2 (Henriques 4, Dhawan 5) target 168 It’s Russell from the other end and Dhawan eases his first ball nicely through cover for four along the quick outfield. A single brings the new man Henriques on strike and he muscles a short ball over mid-on and away for four more.
1st over: Sunrisers 6-2 (Henriques 0, Dhawan 0) target 168 In the surprising absence of Morkel and the unsurprising one of Cummins, Umesh Yadav is the man with the new ball. His first ball is a wide that Warner can’t reach outside off. Warner has a look at the first ball then hammers the second, a short one, over mid-wicket for four. No matter to Yadav though, who rips the next one through Warner’s defence. Ojha is up the order to three. That was a hell of a ball from Yadav, swinging and at pace. Oh and he does it again! This is awesome fast bowling.
Wicket! Ojha b Yadav 0
Does it again! It swings back into the right-hander and once again off-stump is out the ground!
Wicket! Warner b Yadav 4
Great ball this, full and swung from leg, back into the left-hander and it hits middle and off!
Updated
That’s a more than decent total in the end. There are four spinners in the KKR lineup, who should fancy this pitch.
End of innings
20th over: KKR 167-7 (Chawla 9, Y Pathan 30) It will, unsurprisingly, be Bhuvi with the final over. Three singles from the first three balls including a bouncer that Pathan isn’t especially comfortable in dealing with, but then the big batsman backs away and smashes a length ball over extra cover for four. Next ball is short again, but this time hooked square for four. Last ball is a yorker, dug out well and they take two to mid-wicket.
19th over: KKR 154-7 (Chawla 7, Y Pathan 19) Four as Steyn once again strays on to the pads and Chawla slaps it from knee-height to fine-leg. He puts one in the slot to Pathan a couple of balls later, but the big batsman can only smear it to the fielder at deep extra-cover. A slower one next to Chawla and he backs away and runs it down to third man for one more. Another slower ball and Pathan misses out on a full-toss once again, just one to cover. A single to finish makes nine from the penultimate over.
18th over: KKR 145-7 (Chawla 0, Y Pathan 17) Absurd shot from Johan Botha as he reverse-sweeps a Bhuvi Kumar yorker and top-edges it over his own head and the keeper’s for six. He tries again next ball but fails; in fact that was going down leg but caught the inside edge into the stumps. Yadav is the new man and, after clumping a couple out to wide mid-on, he sticks one off his pads and through mid-wicket for four. A second wicket from the final ball and that over went for 13-2. Entertaining, that.
Wicket! S Yadav c Henriques b B Kumar 6
Another to fall trying to reverse-sweep the seamer. Whoda thought, huh? This one’s off the top-edge and lands safely in the hands of backward point.
Wicket! Botha b B Kumar 12
Botha goes for the reverse-sweep once again but misses it and is yorked behind his legs.
17th over: KKR 132-5 (Botha 6, Y Pathan 16) Henriques again and Yusuf cracks a yorker off his toes and through mid-wicket for four very nice runs. A leg-bye, then three ones, then a bottom edge that should be stopped by Praveen Kumar at short fine-leg, but he slides over it. The sweeper does well to reel it back in and save one though.
16th over: KKR 121-5 (Botha 4, Y Pathan 8) Also back comes Cardinal Richelieu and Pathan drives a low one neatly down the ground for four. A couple of balls, a wide, a dot and a single later, Yusuf is gone, taking a suicidal single to mid-on, if the throw hits. It does not hit though. The final ball is short, Botha hooks at it and gets a bottom edge down to the fine-leg boundary.
@DanLucas86 If I haven't said it already, I have an irrational dislike of Gambhir so always want him to lose. So yes, despite Warner, SRH!!
— Ravi Nair (@palfreyman1414) May 4, 2015
Updated
15th over: KKR 111-5 (Y Pathan 3) Back comes Henriques. That was a magnificent spell from the Sunrisers’ spinners and you have to give credit to Warner for that. There’s an appeal for LBW against Henriques, but it was high, outside off, missing the stumps and hit him on the bat. No such problems with the final ball though as Nelson strikes.
Wicket! Ten Doeschate lbw b Henriques 8
Keeps low and hits him below the knee roll on the back pad. That’s crashing into middle and leg, I reckon.
14th over: KKR 106-4 (ten Doeschate 5, Y Pathan 1) You don’t see this too often: both bowlers are going to bowl through, in tandem. This is very good, varying his length depending on the batsmen’s movement. They’re desperate for every run and Pandey throws his wicket away.
Wicket! Pandey run out 33
Utter nonsense. Looking to take a run to short mid-off, where the bowler fielded it. Ten Doeschate wasn’t going anywhere and Pandey had to turn back, but was a good couple of yards short even with the dive.
13th over: KKR 101-3 (ten Doeschate 3, Pandey 31) Another straight six, back over Karn Sharma’s head, for Pandey. The bowler overcorrects, drops too short and gets cut for four more. Looking at the Russell wicket again, he did toe-end it. Three singles, then ten Doeschate turns one to mid-wicket for a well-run couple that bring up the Knight Riders’ hundred
12th over: KKR 86-3 (ten Doeschate 0, Pandey 19) We’re very close to a second wonder catch. Morgan jumps on the rope at mid-on, takes the catch and then releases it back into play before landing, but Vihari can’t get there to complete the relay dismissal. It doesn’t prove in the tiniest bit costly though, as Morgan gets a much easier opportunity just a couple of balls later.
Updated
Wicket! Russell c Morgan b B Sharma 1
Going for the big hit, Russell sends an easy catch Morgan’s way at long-on.
11th over: KKR 81-2 (Russell 0, Pandey 15) More spin and why not? Pandey is a lucky boy here as Uthappa’s straight drive is deflected back towards the non-striker’s stumps by Karn and misses by a lick of paint with Pandey backing up a long way. They’re looking to get after the spinners here, the batsmen, and it proves Uthappa’s downfall. Although that was magnificent from Warner.
Wicket! What a catch! Uthappa c Warner b K Sharma 30
Brilliant from Warner. A full-ish delivery is absolutely smashed by Uthappa, but the captain dives to take a screamer inches of the floor at mid-off.
10th over: KKR 77-1 (Uthappa 27, Pandey 14) Bipul is inches from bowling Uthappa as the batsman goes back and looks to cut one far too close to off-stump, the ball ricocheting up off Ojha’s gloves. Pandey then walks down the track, Bipul holds his length back a touch and the leading edge falls just short of the man at cover point.
@DanLucas86 The problem is Steyn's facial hair: he's channelling Cardinal Richelieu, whose métier was subtlety, not raw aggression.
— Ravi Nair (@palfreyman1414) May 4, 2015
9th over: KKR 73-1 (Uthappa 26, Pandey 11) Nice bit of fielding in the deep by Steyn as Pandey slog-sweeps Karn out to deep mid-on and the fast bowler runs round and palms it back in to keep them down to two. A trio of ones finish and the spinners have done a great job of reeling in the run-rate, which had been threatening to run wild.
8th over: KKR 68-1 (Uthappa 25, Pandey 7) More spin and another Sharma – Bipul, this time. There’s a bit of bounce for the tall left-arm spinner, although when he goes too full, Pandey gets off the mark with a big straight six. Only two singles from the rest of the over, though.
7th over: KKR 60-1 (Uthappa 24, Pandey 0) Our first look at spin today and it brings reward, albeit largely because Gambhir was looking to keep up the run-rate rather than accumulate. The wicket is bookended by a pair of twos and a single to Uthappa is the only other run from the over, as Pandey can’t get off the mark. Good start from Karn Sharma.
Wicket! Gambhir c Morgan b K Sharma 31
Gambhir goes, looking to slog-sweep the spinner into next week and only picking out Morgan at deep mid-wicket.
6th over: KKR 55-0 (Uthappa 21, Gambhir 29) The next cab off the rank is Moises Henriques, who bowled well in the win over CSK on Saturday. This is dross though – clipped off middle by Uthappa and he’s lucky it only yields one, then a slower ball in the slot gets thumped back down the ground for four followed by four more leg-byes.
5th over: KKR 45-0 (Uthappa 20, Gambhir 24) It’s a change of ends for Steyn. Is it just me, or has he lost a bit of his fear factor? I blame this hair:
As if to prove a point, he suffers from the same affliction as Praveen Kumar did in the previous over and strays to leg, against Gambhir this time, and gets clipped to fine-leg for another boundary. Too wide and too full in the other direction with the fifth ball and Gambhir drives him through extra-cover for four more.
4th over: KKR 36-0 (Uthappa 19, Gambhir 16) Just the one over of Dale Steyn, which is a surprise given that he looked to discomfort Gambhir last time. Praveen Kumar is the new batsman and his first two balls are clipped off the pads, behind square leg for four by Uthappa. Two balls later, Uthappa tries it again but gets hit on the pad. Outside the line of off, though. They run a leg-bye, Gambhir then gets a single I didn’t see, before Uthappa once again knocks it out to deep square-leg, where there’s now a fielder keeping them down to one.
3rd over: KKR 25-0 (Uthappa 10, Gambhir 15) Kumar goes too straight and Gambhir clips it square off his legs, shin-height, for four. Another, two balls later, off his knees this time and down to fine-leg. A single apiece too, from that over and this is officially a Decent Start.
2nd over: KKR 15-0 (Uthappa 9, Gambhir 6) I’ve just realised that Bopara isn’t playing. Steyn is and he’s bowling now, getting the leading edge from Gambhir and they run two to backward point. A beauty next up and it might have taken a thin edge from Gambhir, but Marais Erasmus says no. Good decision, by the looks of things as the noise came from bat on pad. Two more to deep mid-on, then a scrambled single gets Gambhir off strike. Uthappa times a nice drive on the up through extra cover for four last ball.
1st over: KKR 6-0 (Uthappa 5, Gambhir 1) It’ll be Bhuvi Kumar with the new ball. A bit of movement for him away from the right-handed Uthappa. He beats the batsman with his second ball, then moves one back in the other way next ball. Gambhir was halfway down the track then and would have been gone had Steyn’s throw from mid-on hit the stumps. A quick single next ball brings five as the throw from Warner at mid-on races away for four overthrows. Oh Dave. Gambhir tucks one down to fine-leg to get off the mark.
Bet you're loving this commentary @DanLucas86 - it's a steamy old night here in Kolkata, hoping for a good one!
— Paul (@chirpycrow) May 4, 2015
It’s Danny Morrison. I am unreasonably, uncontrollably angry four balls into this.
Toss and teams
Sunrisers win it and will bowl.
Kolkata Knight Riders: RV Uthappa†, G Gambhir*, MK Pandey, SA Yadav, AD Russell, RN ten Doeschate, YK Pathan, PP Chawla, J Botha,GB Hogg, UT Yadav
Sunrisers Hyderabad: S Dhawan, DA Warner*, MC Henriques, EJG Morgan, NV Ojha†, GH Vihari, Bipul Sharma, KV Sharma, P Kumar, B Kumar, DW Steyn
Preamble
Afternoon folks. This morning’s match aside, everything feels like a mid-table match, doesn’t it? What with matches, this season especially, feeling like something of a lottery, those at the bottom are able to leap up the league with a win, while those near the top can come tumbling – so far as you can tumble in an eight-team competition – down with just a bad result or two.
What I’m trying to say, is that this is very much a mid-table match. Neither of these sides is out of the running for the play-offs, but then nor is anyone getting too excited about them. The Knight Riders are the defending champions, but the Sunrisers are coming off the back of an excellent, David Warner-inspired win over the table-toppers, CSK. With the middle of the table as cluttered as the breakdown in a Six Nations match, a good run is important so this match, between two sides with four wins and four defeats apiece, is a big one.
But what am I talking about? All the above is ignoring the big issue of the day: happy birthday to everyone’s favourite bits and pieces all-rounder (at least since Paul Collingwood retired).
I will start my bday with aloo paratha and lassi and hopefully end it with 2 points tonight. @SunRisers
— Ravi Bopara (@ravibopara) May 4, 2015
Of course Ravi's birthday is a Bank Holiday. Good day to each and every #Bopliever, wherever you are in the world!
— Vithushan (@Vitu_E) May 4, 2015
