Three wickets from left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed helped Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) restrict Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to 159/8 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, here on Sunday.
Put in to bat, KKR had a brisk start with openers Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn scoring 42 runs in just 2.4 overs before the West Indian fell prey to Khaleel. After collecting 14 runs off the first three deliveries of Khaleel, Narine missed the slower ball and got bowled at 25 (8 balls, 4x3, 6x2).
Shubhman Gill who came in to bat at number three couldn't stay longer at the crease and became the second victim of Khaleel. Gill scored just three runs of four deliveries.
Nitish Rana (11), coming after Gill's dismissal, battled sensibly alongside Lynn and the duo took the score to 61-2 at the end of the powerplay. But his stay at the wicket was ended by Bhuvneshwar Kumar by getting him caught behind with a spectacular delivery.
Skipper Dinesh Karthik (6) yet again failed to deliver and was run out while trying to snatch a second run off Shabaz Nadeem, leaving KKR reeling at 73/4 in the ninth over.
Rinku Singh, included in the side in place of Robin Uthappa, stitched a good partnership with the Australian and both took the score to 116/4 after 15 overs. But while trying to accelerate scoring and go for big hits, Singh (30) got out after Rashid Khan took a good, sliding catch at the mid-wicket boundary with the team score being 124.
Meanwhile, Lynn kept his composure and contributed a well-played 50 to the team before becoming the third victim of Khaleel.
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What KKR needed was another late flourish from big-hitting all-rounder Andre Russell. But it didn't turn out to be the case as Russell departed after scoring 15 off nine balls (6x2, 0x4).
In the last over, bowled by Rashid, KKR collected 13 runs to post a 160-run target for the hosts.
Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 159/8 (Chris Lynn 51, Rinku Singh 30; Khaleel Ahmed 3/33) vs Kolkata Knight Riders.
--IANS
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