Dubai: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) emerged victorious in yet another dramatic contest as the Eoin Morgan-led side defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in a Super Over at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Sunday.
SRH could only manage two runs off three deliveries in the Super Over as Lockie Ferguson picked David Warner and Abdul Samad before KKR easily chased down the target with two balls to spare.
This was KKR’s first win in the Super Over. The Morgan-led side are now on 10 points while SRH have six from nine games.
Before the Super Over, SRH were chasing a 164-run target. They started on a positive note, as openers Jonny Bairstow (36) and Kane Williamson (29), who was promoted up the order, took their side to 57 runs in the initial six overs.
However, just after the mandatory field restrictions were over, Lockie Ferguson struck to send back his New Zealand captain Williamson. Incoming batsman Priyam Garg (4) also became a victim of Ferguson in the ninth over before Varun Chakravarthy further jolted SRH after dismissing a well-settled Bairstow in the 10th.
It left SRH reeling at 70/3 before Ferguson further worsened the situation for the 2016 champions as he dismissed Manish Pandey (6).
SRH skipper David Warner (47 not out) and Vijay Shankar (7), who were in damage-control mode, were involved in a brief 27-run partnership before Pat Cummins applied brakes on the latter’s stay in the 16th over.
Abdul Samad chipped in with a valuable 23 before falling while Warner kept the fight on at the other end.
With 18 needed off the final over, Warner smacked three boundaries off Andre Russell and three more runs from the over took the game into the Super Over. Warner’s unbeaten innings contained five boundaries.
Earlier, some collective batting effort helped KKR post 163/5 in 20 overs. After the KKR top-order failed to fire, skipper Eoin Morgan (34) and Dinesh Karthik (29 not out) added 58 runs off the final 30 balls to reach a respectable total.
KKR opener Shubman Gill was the highest scorer with his 36-run knock while Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi chipped in with 29 and 23 runs respectively top the batting order.
For SRH, T Natarajan picked two wickets for 40 runs while Basil Thampi, Rashid Khan and Vijay Shankar settled with one each. (IANS)
