Willaimson, bowlers ensure a hat-trick of wins for Sunrisers

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to field against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their Indian Premier League match here on Saturday.

Kane Williamson’s half century gave Sunrisers a hat-trick of wins on Saturday night. The visitors knocked down the paltry 139-run target set by the Knight Riders with five wickets and an over to spare to strengthen their position at the top of the table.

Williamson scored 50 off 43 balls, hitting four boundaries and a six in a captain-like innings. His only fault was not to have stayed there till the end. Sunrisers though, did not panic like the other night as Yusuf Pathan played a nice cameo of 17 runs off 7 balls to take them home.

The Sunrisers again got off to a flying start, getting to 32 in 3 overs before Sunil Narine came in to remove both their openers – first Saha (24) and then Dhawan (7).

It soon became a battle between Williamson and the Knight Riders’ spinner after Kuldeep Yadav trapped Manish Pandey for 4.

Williamson then started to use the creaze, maneuvering the spin trio of Narine, Kuldeep and Chawla. He had Bangladesh T20 captain Shakib for company, who played a good hand of 27 off 21 balls that took a lot of pressure off Williamson.

For KKR, Sunil Narine (2/17) and Piyush Chawal (1/20) were the pick of the bowlers but their seamers were disappointing yet again, leaking runs when it mattered the most.

The Knight Riders are stuck with just one win in there three matches with their next fixture coming up against the Daredevils on Tuesday.

Knight Riders innings

“Over the years the, The city of joy became a second home to me having some great Years with KKR. Now back again but this time in Orange,” tweeted Manish Pandey before the match against Kolkata Knight Riders. 5 hours later his side, the Sunrisers Hyderabad had bowled Knight Riders out for and Pandey had already made a significant contribution by taking two stunning catches.

Pandey first took an outstanding tumbling catch at backward point to send back Nitish Rana after the rain stoppage. Then ran backwards, dived at full length to put an end to Russell -- who hit a 36-ball 88 in the last game -- back in the hut as SRH bowlers reined in after skies opened up to halt play for 58 minutes when KKR were going steady at 52/1.

For the hosts, opener Chris Lynn (49; 34b 7x4 1x6) was the top-scorer as skipper Dinesh Karthik laboured to a 27-ball 29 hitting two fours and a six.

KKR got off to a slow start with SRH opening bowlers Bhuvneshwar and Billy Stanlake conceding just 23 runs in the first four overs and also removing Robin Uthappa (3) who was caught behind off Bhuvneshwar's bowling.

The umpire first adjugded the batsman not out but the visitors straightaway asked for a review with replays showing a clear outside edge.

Lynn looked in fine fettle hitting Siddarth Kaul (1/37) for three fours in the fifth over.

In-form Rana, who starred with bat and ball in KKR's home game against Royal Challengers Bangalore, continued his purple patch smashing Rashid for a four and a six in his first over. Rashid was hit for his first six of the tournament as he leaked 12 runs.

At the end of Powerplay, the hosts were 49/1 and after managing three runs in the next over, it started drizzling. Play was stopped for almost one hour but there was no loss of overs.

Four balls after the restart, Pandey took a brilliant diving catch at point to remove Rana off Stanlakes's bowling.

Rashid had a chance to pull off a spectacular catch at long on to get rid of Lynn but the Afghanistan spinner spilled the ball over the line for a six. At the halfway stage, KKR were 70/2 and seemed to be going steady.

But in the next three overs, Shakib bagged the wickets of Sunil Narine (9;10b 1x4 0x6) -- batting at No.4 -- and Lynn taking a sharp diving catch to halt the Aussie opener from scoring a fifty.

Toss Report

Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and had no hesitation in inviting Kolkata Knight Riders to bat first in their home ground at the Eden Gardens Kolkata.

The affect of last match defeat to CSK prompted three changes in Knight Riders team. The U-19 stars Shubman Gill and Shivam Mavi are making their IPL debut in place of Rinku Singh and the struggling Vinay Kumar, who was guilty of giving away 17 runs in the last over of the previous match. Mitchell Johnson also made a comeback in place of England’s Tom Curran.

"The wicket plays good throughout. It's a new game for us. We have to put up a good performance. We have good power-hitters, and a good mix overall,” said Karthik.

Sunrisers, on the other hand, are coming off two wins and they have got Bhuvnehwar Kumar back.

"We are going to have a bowl. Looks like a good surface. This (KKR) side is a bit different. Past is past. We want to focus on what we want to execute today. Nice to get across the line in the last game but a different opposition here, and a different surface,” said Williamson.

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik(w/c), Shubman Gill, Andre Russell, Mitchell Johnson, Shivam Mavi, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Wriddhiman Saha(w), Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson(c), Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Deepak Hooda, Yusuf Pathan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Siddarth Kaul, Billy Stanlake