Brook's unbeaten century gives Sunrisers enough to trump Knight Riders
Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh gave KKR a chance after SRH put up the biggest total of the season so far, but they fell well short in the end
Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh gave KKR a chance after SRH put up the biggest total of the season so far, but they fell well short in the end
Scorer: Ranjith P | Commentator: Srinidhi
Sunrisers have moved to seventh place from ninth after winning this high-scoring game by 23 runs. Knight Riders, meanwhile, remain fourth. Both team have now won two matches and lost two each. A trend from this week: home team losing the game - Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, Punjab and now Kolkata. Are we going to see RCB and LSG putting an end to that? Come back tomorrow for the double header. That's it from us today. Hope you all enjoyed the coverage. This is Srinidhi signing off on behalf of our scorers and Hemant Brar. Good night!
Brook: "It was a special night, it was tense but it's good to be on the winning side. [on batting at the top of the order]: A lot of people say it's the best place to bat at. I am happy to do what team wants me to do. This knock is definitely up the there[in the list of my best performances].
"There was one ball I was facing against Chakravarthy and crowd went mental. I think I was putting pressure on myself after a few games, you go to social media and people talk rubbish. I just went in the don't-care mode today and played this knock."
Markram: Hats off to the bowler, showed a bit of courage and character. Fortunate to get off a good start. We bat quite deep and that's the impact it had. [on Brook] We all know Harry's talent, he hits good cricket shots at PP. Bhuvi is Mr. Reliable. It was a totugh wicket to be a bowler. Kudos for keeping calm. They are great bunch of guys. There are areas to work on. It's nice to improve as a team, hopefully, we keep the momentum."
Iliyas: "How many dropped catches in SRH fielding?" -- six catches!
Afeef: "Rinku Singh's last 5 IPL innings - 40 (15), 4 (4), 46 (33), 48* (21), 58* (31)"
Bhuvneshwar Kumar: "We just wanted to get wickets up front. When you want to defend, you have to take wickets. I am not a big fan of bowling too many slower balls and too many variations. I look at the batsmen and how he reacted to my balls previously and then plan my bowling. [Regarding Umran's last over] Just wanted him to bowl two good balls first and not confuse him.
"Needed this kind of an innings from Brook. We knew what he was capable of. Glad it came through for the team."
Nitish Rana: "I feel that the way we bowled wasn't in line with the plan. However the wicket may be, a score of close to 230 is too high. We could have planned and bowled better. We know that what Rinku did the other day won't happen everyday; but the way he batted and I batted made me happy overall. The plan that I communicated with Rinku and Dre Russ was to take it as deep as possible; I thought anything can happen then. I tried to hold one end and went about hitting. [On the pitch] We know that the wicket at Eden Gardens has always played like this and will continue to do so. Even we were expecting 200 but we could have bowled better. On a given day, I can't do much if the main bowler goes for runs because the same bowlers win the most games. It was a bad day and that's okay. Happy with our fight, would've been happier had we gotten two points."
11.15pm: What a chase this was! KKR looked like they were in the game till the very end because of Rinku Singh. Nitish Rana laid the platform for him with a 41-ball 75 after KKR lost three wickets for just 20 runs early in the innings. But it wasn't enough. With Rinku remaining unbeaten on 57 and taking the game till the final over, should he be batting up the order moving forward is a question to ponder. SRH were also sloppy on field and they would want to rectify it sooner than later.
Earlier, Harry Brook finally got going for Sunrisers with an unbeaten 100 off 55 which helped them get to 228 for 4, the highest total of this season. Markram's fifty, Klaasen and Abhishek's cameo at the end also proved handy. Andre Russell starred with three wickets for his team, bowling for the first time this season. Having left the field without completing his third over due to some discomfort in his leg, KKR would hope that he isn't sidelined with any injury.
31 off 4 needed
Rinku won't be on strike. What is Umesh Yadav going to do here?
SN Thakur c Washington Sundar b Umran Malik 12 (15m 7b 2x4 0x6) SR: 171.42
Final over from Umran
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