Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markram slammed half-centuries as Sunrisers Hyderabad continued their rich form as a team, this time handing the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) a seven-wicket defeat at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai in the Match No 25 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) played on Friday night.
In reply to Kolkata Knight Riders’ total of 175/8 which. Was bolstered by a brilliant 49 from Andre Russell and a fluent 54 from Nitish Rana, Sunrisers Hyderabad had their batsmen Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markram coming up with match-winning knocks to help their team score 176/3 in 17.5 overs, thus winning the contest by 7 wickets and 13 balls to spare.
Rahul Tripathi scored the most runs for the winning side as he made 71 from 37 balls hitting 4 fours and 6 sixes in the process, while the South African Aiden Markram made 68 not out from only 36 balls with the help of 4 sixes and 6 fours.
It was Sunrisers Hyderabad who won the toss and invited Kolkata Knight Riders to bat first. The decision looked right as Marco Jansen had Australia’s Aaron Finch caught behind for 7 and T Natarajan removed the dangerous Venkatesh Iyer for 6.
KKR captain Shreyas Iyer tried to rebuild for his side with a steady knock but he was beaten by the pace of Umran Malik, who cleaned up the right-hand batsman for 28 from 25 balls, an innings which included 3 fours.
In a desperate need of partnership, Kolkata Knight Riders were served well by their middle-order batsman Nitish Rana, who was involved in three vital partnerships. The left-handed Nitish Rana added 39 runs for the fourth wicket with Shreyas Iyer, 33 runs from 18 balls with Sheldon Jackson and 39 runs for the sixth wicket with Andre Russell.
The West Indies all-rounder seemed to be struggling against the pace of Umran Malik but eventually finished at 49 not out, which came from 25 balls with 4 sixes and 4 fours.
Sunrisers Hyderabad lost their dependable opening pair of Abhishek Sharma and Kane Williamson early in this game. Australia Test captain Pat Cummins had Abhishek Sharma playing one on to his wickets, while Kane Williamson was dismissed by Andre Russell just when the SRH captain was looking dangerous. Williamson made 17 from 16 balls with 3 fours.
Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markram joined hands at this junction, and took SRH past the winning mark eventually. The two batsmen added 94 runs for the third wicket to strengthen the position of their team in the match, which was followed by another strong 43-run stand between the South African batsman and West Indies’ Nicholas Pooran.