Hyderabad – 30Yards

Shubman gill and Eoin Morgan uplifted the Knight Riders and settled Sunrisers at the bottom of the points table.

The eighth match of Dream11 IPL 2020 took place between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Shaikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi. Skipper David Warner choosed to bat first for sunrisers. The dew was a concern for both teams plus the ground has long boundaries, so bowlers were sure to benifit as compared to the other grounds in UAE.

Picture courtesy: Outlook India

Dinesh Kartik, captaining KKR decided couple of changes for his team. He brought in debutant Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Varun in place of Sandeep and Nikhil respectively. In SRH, Wridhhiman Saha came in for Vijay shankar as the latter had tweaked his back. Nabi came in for Marsh and Khaleel came in for Sandeep Sharma.

Both the teams had a poor start this season so both were here to claim their first victory under the moon. Perhaps, we had only one winner – Knight Riders. SRH had given a target of 143 to chase which the Kolkata franchise did it convincingly, at the loss of 3 wickets and 12 balls to spare.

SRH’s Warner and Bairstow opened the game as KKR’s Narine bowled the first over. First wicket fell for SRH at 3.6 over. Birthday boy Bairstow returned after scoring just scoring 5 runs from 10 without hitting any boundaries.

KKR after getting first wicket of SRH.
Picture courtesy: Twitter/@IPL

After the opener departed, Manish Pandey came in and built a decent partnership of 35 runs with Warner who later was dismissed by Chakravarty. Warner scored 36 runs off 25 balls which included two boundaries and a maximum. As Saha joined Pandey, they added another 60 runs for the total. Manish Pandey hit his half century but was caught and bowled by Andre Russel in the next few deliveries itself. He scored 51 runs off 38 balls. He hit three 4s and two 6s. We should even appreciate Manish Pandey’s half century as he is one of most underated player.

Manish Pandey after scoring an fifty.
Picture courtesy: Twitter/@SunRisers

The pace of the game slowed down. The Sunrisers had just 121 runs at the end of 17 overs. After Pandey, Nabi came in to bat. Unfortunately, Saha was run out on the second ball of the 19th over by the the wicket keeper Karthik. Saha had scored just 30 runs off 31 balls which included a 4 and a 6. Young man Abhishek Sharma came in to bat. He scored just 2 runs from the 3 balls he faced while Nabi scored 11 runs in 8 balls with two boundaries. The final score was 142 for 4.

We can say bowlers of Knight Riders did a good job of controlling the run rate which put pressure on the opponent. Cummin’s spell was the best amongst KKR’s bowling. His figures were 4-0-19-1.

Picture courtesy: Twitter/@KKRiders

In second innings KKR’s Shubman gill and Narine gill opened as SRH’s Bhuvneshwar kumar bowled the first over. First wicket fell for KKR in the second ball of the second over by Khaleel Ahmed. Narine went out for a duck, caught by Warner. Nitish rana came in to bat to support Gill. Rana’s wicket fell in 4.4 over caught by Saha which was bowled by T Natarajan. Rana scored 26 runs of just 13 balls in which he hit 6 boundaries. Skipper Dinesh Kartik also went out for duck. He was caught leg before wicket by Rashid khan at 6.2 overs. But the opener Shubman Gill was still batting on other side, playing shots on all sides of ground. After the skipper, Eoin stayed with Gill.

Picture courtesy: Twitter/@IPL

On the third ball of 13th over, our young man Gill scored his half century and on second ball of 15th over, partnership between Gill and Morgan reached 50 runs. At this stage, KKR had put up 102 runs on the score board. Gill-Morgan now had the license to play a destructive innings especially in the death overs. The completed the team’s target on the last ball of 18th over. Morgan hit a boundary to do and celebrated in style!

Winning Scenes…
Picture courtesy: Twitter/@IPL

SRH’s two bowlers bowled decently which were Rashid khan with bowling figures of 4-0-25-1 and Mohammad nabi with bowling figures of 4-0-23-0. But all of their efforts went in vain.

Shubman Gill made 70 runs off 62 balls with five boundaries and two maximum. Keeping his wicket safe, he showed his patience and calmness. Eoin Morgan also played a great innings, giving his quickest cameo of 42 runs from 29 balls, hitting three fours and two sixes.

Gill and Morgan together paved an easy way for victory of KKR. It was a low scoring match and keeping seven wickets in hand, they registered their first two points for this season.

“We have been working really hard. I think one of the advantages of having all-rounders and it is a privilege to use them whenever I can. The fact that we have been able to groom the youngsters is pleasing It feels good to see the youngsters doing well”. – Winning captain Dinesh Kartik in post-match speech.

Shubman Gill was given a Man of the match award as he pulled victorious innings for KKR.

I think the ball wasn’t spinning much and was easy to hit down the ground. I have practised power hitting in the last couple of years. I think it was important for us to win. There weren’t any long conversations with Morgan. We were just trying to anticipate what the bowlers can try and do. As an opener it is my duty to see my team through. – Man of the match Shubman Gill

Yuzvendra Chahal and Navdeep Saini changed the game for RCB.

The third match of Dream11 IPL 2020 played between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) took-off in Dubai on 21st September. A happy day for all the RCBians! The team had a very difficult start last season but they bounced back starting with a winning match this year.

Taking a perfect estimation of the new ground, the Sunrisers chose to bowl first. However, they had a bad start amidst power play when they saw an astonishing opening partnership between Devdutt Padikkal and Aaron Finch.

Aaron Finch was supposed to take the pressure off the young debutang. But no, it was the other way round. Hitting a huge six on Abhishek Sharma’s ball, Padikkal made his first half century at IPL in 37 balls. Sunrisers bowler Vijay Shankar came back into the attack by taking the wicket of unstoppable Padikkal and breaking the partnership.

Devdutt Padikkal said, “It was great to get the half century out of the way. It was the first game and I wanted to start of well. I am happy to have done that. So happy to be training with Kohli. I was just eating his ears trying to pick up as much as possible. He said who you face doesn’t matter as long as you have confidence in yourself. I enjoyed batting with finch. I was comfortable from the word go batting alongside with him.”

Picture courtesy: Sportsgrasp.com

The match was taken ahead by the fastest run taker AB de Villers and RCB captain Virat Kohli. Taking the responsibility of the team, De Villers scored his half century in 30 balls later hitting two sixes back to back on Sandeep Sharma’s over and setting a higher score for the Risers to chase. ABD also hit 200th six for the Royal Challengers.

Bowlers from Sunrisers were bowling pretty well after the power play. When Abhishek Sharma took wicket of Finch and Rashid Khan got the catch of the skipper Virat Kohli, the Risers built a little pressure on Challengers.

The conditions would have best suited the Sunrisers bowler Mitchell Marsh but succumbed to injuries, he had to walk-off the ground due to a limp in his leg. This brought a twist into the match and affected the best bowling side lethally.

Royal Challengers set a target of 164 which looked 20 runs short until Yuzi Chahal and Navdeep Saini came as a savior with their fantastic bowling. This match has given a feeling that RCB is now a well balanced side with the likes of 4 good batsmen in the top and middle order and a great mix of spinners and pacers in their team.

With the opening partnership of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow, Sunrisers were all set to chase the score made by the Royal Challengers. In the very first over by Dale Steyn, Warner started-off the chase by hitting a boundary.

RCB bowler Umesh Yadav who wasn’t bowling good, fortunately ran-out Warner at the non-strikers end. Bairstow who scored a half century, managed to do that because of the weak fielding by RCB where he got saved thrice from a catch out. Manish Pandey and Bairstow had built a good partnership which could have led to a win.

However, it was then the RCB’s bowlers show. Yuzvendra Chahal came into the picture by taking Manish Pandey’s wicket in his 3rd over and stumped Bairstow and Vijay Shankar back to back. Another bowler from RCB, Navdeep Saini who stumped Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan one after the other.

With the never say die attitude, Mitchell Marsh came to bat but his injured leg did not allow him to stay on the pitch for long. He got a catch out by Virat Kohli after hitting the first ball. Pulling up the score to 146 SRH needed 18 runs in the last 6 balls. But with a brilliant show put up by RCB bowlers, the tailenders were dismissed soon and consequently lost all 10 wickets.

Picture courtesy: Moneycontrol.com

The man of the match award was given to RCB spinner Yuzvendra Chahal for taking 3 wickets and giving just 18 runs in his spell of 4 overs.

Yuzi Chahal said, “When I bowled my first over, I realized I need to bowl stump-to-stump line and backed myself. When Vijay came Virat and AB told me to go for a googly and it worked. I put some mud on my hands to make sure there is no dew.”

Tag: Hyderabad

With Gill’s 70*, KKR register their first win at Dream11 IPL 2020 against SRH!

Shubman gill and Eoin Morgan uplifted the Knight Riders and settled Sunrisers at the bottom of the points table.

Setting the sun of the Risers, RCB won by 10 runs.