How often have fielding errors turned matches around more often than performances with bat or ball and that is exactly what happened at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Friday, April 14, 2023.
Put in to bat by Kolkata Knight Riders Skipper Nitish Rana, SunRisers Hyderabad were off the blocks in a jiffy and it was young Englishman Harry Brook who dominated proceedings. He walloped Umesh Yadav and Lockie Ferguson early in the innings to keep the momentum flowing.
After the loss of two quick wickets of Mayank Agarwal and Rahul Tripathi and the KKR spinners slowing things down, Brook got a lifeline on 48.
Young leggie Suyash Sharma put down a regulation return catch -- a short-pitched ball, smacked straight back at the bowler. The ball fell in and out of Suyash's hands.
That reprieve was enough for Brook to first get to his fifty and then build a 72-run stand with Captain Aiden Markram as they made KKR hunt for leather.
KKR's woes in the fielding department were laid bare further when Abhishek Sharma was dropped on 1 off Suyash after Shardul Thakur put down one at cover.
That allowed Brook and Abhishek to script a 72-run stand as both batters kept their feet on the accelerator. Although Abhishek was out for 32 off 17 in the 18th over, his positive batting kept Brook going as well, who shut the naysayers with his maiden IPL hundred.
Gifting reprieves to both batters cost KKR dearly as SRH scored 228 for 4.
KKR needed a good start, but even though they lost Rahmatullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer and Sunil Narine cheaply, KKR saw a small ray of hope when N Jagadeesan was dropped twice -- once on 7 and then again on 25. And all this while he and Rana went after T Natarajan and Umran Malik, scoring at will.
Jagadeesan was out soon after for 36 ,but not before linking up with Rana for a 62-run stand and still strong for the victory charge.
Rana brought up his fifty and continued the assault with Rinku Singh playing second fiddle. Both players were dropped, but KKR got agonisingely close, short by 23 runs after a dramatic run-chase.
The lethargic fielding from SRH's Washington Sundar to put down Rana twice nearly cost them the game, but only for some tight bowling from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umran Malik at the death to give them a win.
