Shadab shines in nervy Knight Riders win
Shadab Khan's 30 not out and his unbroken 45-run stand for the seventh wicket with Javon Searles - the highest of the match - helped Knight Riders register their second win
Shadab Khan's 30 not out and his unbroken 45-run stand for the seventh wicket with Javon Searles - the highest of the match - helped Knight Riders register their second win
Scorer: Thilak Ram | Commentator: Nikhil Kalro
Clinical in execution from Shadab Khan and a fine hand from Javon Searles help the Knight Riders complete a rather simple four-wicket win over the sub-par St Lucia Stars. The Knight Riders, in hindsight, did enough with the ball to ensure that even if they lost a cluster of wickets, like they did in the Powerplay, they were still hardly in any trouble. Shane Shillingford, with his offspin, gave the Stars a chance, but a chance was all it was.
Darren Sammy: "To score 118, not enough. We needed 140-plus. Much-improved bowling performance, we'll take the positives from that. I'm really happy, shows I have a wicket-taking option in Shane."
Dwayne Bravo: "Two points, very important. Shadab, the way he played. Pierre set the tone with the maiden. Not clinical. Sammy rotated his bowlers well. But we bat fairly deep.
Shadab Khan is the Man of the Match: "Team needed my batting. Pitch was very slow. I play as an allrounder."
Anon06: "What is Searles' role in the team? He often doesn't bowl and he averages 7 with the bat. In overall T20 cricket, he bowls an average of 10 balls per match. His batting credentials across formats are nothing more than a No10 bat. Surely TKR can replace him with another batsman given that they already have 7 options with the ball (including Munro). With Narine opening until Amla arrives, adding the extra bat takes the batting deep, which is handy on difficult pitches as we've seen so far."
Shadab Khan's 30 not out and his unbroken 45-run stand for the seventh wicket with Javon Searles - the highest of the match - helped Knight Riders register their second win