Kolkata Knight Riders bounced back in the home leg in style by notching up a comprehensive 35-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League match, at the Eden Gardens, in Kolkata, on Monday.
- Scorecard
Defending a fighting total of 167, KKR were given a rollicking start by their speedster Umesh Yadav, who castled dangerman David Warner (4) and Naman Ojha (0) in the first over of the innings. The visitors failed to recover from the double blow and finished on a disappointing 132 for nine in their 20 overs.
The KKR spin duo of Brad Hogg (2/17) and Piyush Chawla (1/16) tightened the noose further around Hyderabad's batsmen, handing them their third defeat in as many outings at the Eden Gardens.
While their top batsmen failed to impress, Moises Henriques (41 from 33 balls) and Karn Sharma (32 from 20) put up a fight, but it proved to be too late, too little for Sunrisers.
KKR (11) jumped past Royal Challengers Bangalore (9) to the third spot in the table, brightening their hopes of qualifying for the play-offs. The big win also gave a fillip to their net run-rate.
Hyderabad, on the other hand, remain on fifth position with eight points from nine matches.
Earlier, Yusuf Pathan's late cameo lifted Kolkata Knight Riders to a fighting 167 for seven in their 20 overs despite a middle-order collapse.
Put in to bat, KKR got off to a good start but a few quick wickets left them in a bit of trouble. The middle overs didn't go to plan for the champions before Pathan hit a quickfire 30 not out from 19 balls to give the total some respectability.
Karn Sharma and Bipul Sharma, included in place of Ashish Reddy, took full advantage of the slow nature of the pitch, and were instrumental in KKR's slide after a flying start given by the duo of Robin Uthappa (30) and Gautam Gambhir (31).
From 55 for no loss in the first six overs, the hosts were reduced to 86 for three in 12 overs with the spin duo of Karn and Bipul conceding just 52 runs among them in eight overs while taking the crucial wickets of Gambhir, Uthappa and Andre Russell (1).
Hyderabad skipper David Warner came up with a stunning flying catch in the covers off Karn to dismiss Uthappa in the 11th over and Russell perished in the next over when he was dismissed by Bipul.
Aware of Pandey's weakness against spin, Warner persisted with the spinners from both ends and almost dismissed the Karnataka right-hander with Eoin Morgan's acrobatic effort at long-on, who nearly produced a stunning catch but the momentum carried him over and Hanuma Vihari, who was backing up, failed to take the rebound as the English flicked the ball in before falling over the ropes.
But Pandey failed to make most of the reprieve and was run out for a breezy 33 from 26 balls.
Ryan ten Doeschate, Johan Botha and Surya Kumar Yadav also threw their wickets away cheaply before Pathan came to the rescue.
The all-rounder boosted KKR's total with back to back fours off Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the final over of the innings, which went for 13 runs.
In reply, Hyderabad batting fell like nine pins after Yadav rocked the top-order with his twin blow in his first over, including the prized scalp of the in-form Warner.
The Australian left-hander, who has struck five half-centuries already this season, got going with a boundary but Yadav bounced back in the next ball to disturb his off stump.
Yadav went on to castle Ojha for a duck in the last ball of the first over to give KKR a dream start with the ball, while Hyderabad recovered from the early blows.
It was another welcome homecoming for KKR, who continued their fine showing at their home ground, and everything fell in order even as none of their batsmen could convert their starts after being put in by Hyderabad skipper David Warner.