Shubman Gill stars in KKR’s 1st win against SRH
IPL
|| India Correspondent ||
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) registered their first win against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the 2020 edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) on the back of youngster Shubman Gill’s unbeaten 70 off 62.
Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and opted to bat first. Openers David Warner and Jonny Bairstow tried to build a solid foundation but failed to do it. They started steadily where Warner took on Sunil Narine for a six and a four.
However, they failed to maintain that pace as Pat Cummins bowled Bairstow with his deadly pace for a mere 5. His dismissal brought Manish Pandey in the middle. He steadied the ship alongside Warner. Manish smashed a maximum over cow corner. His next six came off Kuldeep Yadav over long-on.
However, they managed only 59 runs in 9 overs. Before they could change the gear, Chakravarthy sent Warner in for 36. Later, Pandey scored fifty before Andre Russell dismissed him for 51. He also scored 3 fours and 2 sixes. And, SRH ended up posting 142 runs in 20 overs.
While chasing, KKR got the big blow when their opener Sunil Narine got out for a duck in the second over. Nitish Rana built the partnership with Gill. Both of them, slowly built the foundation while Gill smashed a six over long-on.
Rana took on Bhuvneshwar Kumar for two boundaries in the 3rd over whereas he smashed three consecutive fours in the next over off the SRH speedster Khaleel Ahmed. He smashed another one before T Natarajan dismissed him for 26 off 13.
While Dinesh Karthik came to bat at number 4, he failed to contribute as the talented spinner Rashid Khan trapped him before the stumps for a duck that too within 7 overs.
The responsibility fell upon Eoin Morgan and young Shubman Gill. Both of them took time to chase down the total. Meanwhile, he registered his fifty off 42 balls. In the 15th over, the duo added fifty runs as well.
Later on, Gill smacked a huge six in the 17th over. To ease the pressure, England’s World Cup-winning skipper Morgan complemented his young partner quite well. He smashed a six and a four in the 18th over and sealed the deal. While Gill ended up scoring an unbeaten 70 off 62 with 5 fours and 2 sixes, Eoin Morgan eventually finished with 42 not out in 29 balls 3 fours and 2 sixes.
