KKR beat KXIP by 8 wickets

Kolkata Knight Riders made it two wins out of two at home this season after they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 17 runs at the Eden Gardens on Saturday evening.

Sunil Narine is back for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), this time with the bat. Even after the win on Thursday, Gambhir indicated that his role was to play through most of the overs, so the other explosive batsmen can express themselves at the other end.

Umesh Yadav was the star with 4-33. It has good pace and carry. He got him out caught behind following him was exactly what we had discussed before the game. Uthappa fell trying to pull a short ball from Ben Cutting and was caught at deep mid-wicket but his innings gave KKR the ideal launch pad in the last five overs.

Narine said he enjoyed batting. Ashish Nehra continued the SRH momentum giving away just nine runs.

“It came off today”.

“We pay a fair bit of attention to all competitions and not only the BBL (Big Bash League, Australia)”, Katich told reporters after being asked whether Narine’s surprise opening decision was borrowed from Melbourne Renegades where the West Indian has opened thrice this year. His scores were 21, 12 and 4. “With that, I know that there is Narine and then the rest of the batting to follow”. “After that management thought he can be used as an opener”, Yadav said. I like it at No. 3 because the team needs me there. There’s not much spin out there. In a pursuit of 173, against a bowing unit that has Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav, such start was never going to take them to the final lap. A straighter one from the legbreak bowler outfoxed the former India player as the LED lights on the bails started blinking. But the left-hander miscued one, while attempting to go over the top yet again in the same over, and picked the man at long on; Yuvraj was dismissed for 26 (16 balls, 2 fours, 2 sixes) and SRH had slipped to 112-5. I like the fact that I have responsibility on my shoulders.

The Knights zoomed atop the table with a 17-run win over the Sunrisers at the Eden Gardens earlier in the day. So if we keep hitting the back of length on to his body. However, after an attractive 26, he too fell for a slower short ball. I think my hard work in the last eight to 10 months have helped.

KXIP got the hint during the innings break when Narine was seen with pads at the dug-out. The pitch seems to be seamer friendly but we are expecting a huge total here anything above 175 + would be enough to for game on. We had an extra quick as well, but unfortunately, we couldn’t deliver. But credit should be given to the bowlers for the way they bowled.