Lynn, Krishna star as KKR secure top 4 spot

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and opted to bat first against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in a crunch Indian Premier League (IPL) game at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Saturday.

Prasidh Krishna's brilliant 4 for 30 and Chris Lynn ‘s blistering 55 off 43 deliveries helped Kolkata Knight Riders register a 5-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium in Hyderabad.

With a stunning victory against the 2016 IPL champions, Kolkata Knight Riders became the third team to seal a spot in the knock out round of the 11^th edition of the Indian Premier League. Knight Riders amassed 16 points from 14 matches with 8 wins and 6 defeats.

Chasing 173, openers Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine started off the proceedings in style, stitching 52-run stand for the first wicket in just 3.4 overs before Siddharth Kaul managed to send the West Indian packing.

Lynn, however, didn’t let the momentum slip and combined with Robin Uthappa for another 77 runs. The explosive Aussie sent the ball into the stands on 3 occasions and touched the fence 4 times in his 45-ball knock. He also managed his third fifty of the 2018 season.

Uthappa, on the other hand, missed his fifty by a whisker as he smashed 45runs, hitting three boundaries and 2 maximums in 34 balls to take them closer to victory.

Earlier, young medium pacer Prasidh Krishna's three wickets in the last over was the highlight of Kolkata Knight Riders' fine comeback as they restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad to 172 for nine in their Indian Premier League match.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan top-scored for the hosts with 50 off 39 balls, while skipper Kane Williamson blazed away to 36 in just 17, hitting three sixes in the process.

But KKR, who need a win in their crucial last league game to make the play-offs on their own, staged a fightback as SRH managed just 45 runs in the last 7.1 overs after Williamson's dismissal. The hosts, who have already qualified for the play-offs, were past the 100-run mark in the 11th over.

The 22-year-old Prasidh was the most successful bowler, returning exceptional figures of 4/30 in four overs.

Toss

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and opted to bat first against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in a crunch Indian Premier League (IPL) game at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Saturday.

In a must-win tie for KKR, the purple brigade welcomed back fit-again leggie Piyush Chawla and dropped Shivam Mavi who leaked runs in buckets in their last game against Rajasthan Royals.

KKR won the game by six wickets while already qualified table-toppers SRH lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore in their previous encounter.

SRH ringed in two changes, bringing in pace spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Carlos Brathwaite in place of Alex Hales and Basil Thampi.

Teams:

Kolkata Knight Riders: Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik(w/c), Andre Russell, Shubman Gill, Javon Searles, Piyush Chawla, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson(c), Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Deepak Hooda, Shreevats Goswami(w), Carlos Brathwaite, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Siddarth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma.