IPL PHOTOS: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad

The cheerleaders from the two teams chat to each other before the start of the match.

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir won the toss and had no hesitation in electing to bat at the Wankhede stadium in Kolkata, on Sunday.

Kolkata made one change to their team, adding an extra spinner in Sri Lankan Sachithra Senanayake, who makes his IPL debut and he comes into the team in place of pacer Ryan McLaren. Hyderabad also boosted their spin department bringing in leggie Karat Sharma to replace Anand Rajan.

Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders got back to winning ways as they registered a convincing 48-run victory.

 

Manvinder Bisla finally got some runs as he played a fluent knock of 28 from 24 balls to give KKR a good start.

He added 59 runs for the opening wicket with Gautam Gambhir before he was caught at deep midwicket off Karan Sharma.

Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir scored an attractive 53 off 45 balls with the help of six boundaries and a big six.

There was no stopping Gambhir who was even successful in bisecting the fielders stationed at the boundary line when he hit Amit Mishra through midwicket. The skipper then lofted Karan for a big six over long-on before completing his half-century with the help of seven boundaries and a six.

Medium pacer Ashish Reddy claimed the wicket of Gambhir who was bowled attempting to slog it across the line. He added 43 runs for the second wicket with Jacques Kallis to lay a solid foundation for the middle order.

Eoin Morgan came out all guns blazing to lift the tempo in the final few overs.

Morgan helped the home team finish with flourish, courtesy his quickfire knock of 47 off 21 balls, hitting five fours and three sixes in the process.

The 18th over from Thisara Perera yielded 22 runs as the left-hander hit him for three fours and a six.

Legendary all-rounder Jacques Kallis also scored a useful 41 off 27 deliveries with six fours before he was run out from the last ball of the innings.

Kallis and Morgan smashed 67 runs for the third wicket in only five overs to help Kolkata score an imposing 180 for four in their 20 overs.

Sunrisers Hyderabad made a sedate start with the bat as both their openers -- Parthiv Patel and Cameron White -- found it difficult to score freely in the opening few overs.

Parthiv made 27 from 31 balls before he was bowled by Kallis. He added 57 runs for the opening wicket with White from 54 deliveries as Kolkata's opening bowlers kept up the pressure with some tight bowling.

After his good showing with the bat, Kallis returned to haunt the Sunrisers with an excellent performance with the ball.

The veteran claimed the wickets of both openers and finished with splendid figures of three for 13 in four overs.

Sri Lankan mystery spinner Sachithra Senanayake impressed with the ball on his IPL debut.

He took the wicket of Ashish Reddy with his final delivery of his spell to end with one for 18 in four overs without conceding even a single boundary during his spell.

Thisara Perera threw his bat around to hit 36 from 25 balls but there was too much to do with too little time left in the end.

The loss was Sunrisers second in five matches and they stay third, while Kolkata notched up their second victory in four matches.