IPL 9: Gautam Gambhir’s got ’em!

KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir led from the front with the bat to see his side home against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday. (Photo: Surendra P.)

The flicked six by Robin Uthappa off Moises Henriques in the 10th over of the chase was the match in a nutshell.

Kolkata Knight Riders swatted the Eagles like flies as they flew past the modest target to record their second win of the tournament, shutting Sunrisers Hyderabad in the cellar of the IPL table.

It was the same old story at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium. The Sunrisers put up 142 — the same total the last time they played the Kolkata Knight Riders in Hyderabad. They had failed to defend the target then. They couldn’t do any better now as Gautam Gambhir stroked his second successive half-century (90 runs, 60 balls, 4x13, 6x1) to power his side to an energetic eight-wicket victory with 10 balls to spare. His opening partner Uthappa played second fiddle with 38.

The Men in Orange were never in the game, which can well be described as one between apples and oranges. The only thing the hosts won was the toss. However, with four gone for 50 in the 10th over, the result was a foregone conclusion.

Had it not been for a steady stand of 67 for the fifth wicket between England captain Eoin Morgan and Naman

Ojha, the Sunrisers’ total would have been embarrassing.

Morgan played the sensible senior partner in the rescue act, holding his ground and rotating strike for most part of the innings before launching the big shots to smack three boundaries and two sixes in his 43-ball 51 before being caught by Shakib-Al Hasan at long-on off Umesh Yadav as he tried to accelerate, in the 19th over.

His batting buddy Ojha had done well to make 37 off 28 balls, sending two of them racing to the boundary and the same number soaring over it.

However, the huge number of dot balls — 52 — in the innings meant the Sunrisers did not score off almost nine overs!

The first over of the match was an eventful one. Morne Morkel had Sunrisers captain David Warner caught off a no-ball, followed that with two more wides and conceded a boundary as the hosts took 9 off it.

Shikhar Dhawan did not last long though, perishing for a trivial shot and six in the third over.

The captain too could not capitalise on his initial fortitude and fell for an unlucky 13 though. It got worse when Umesh Yadav trapped Moises Henriques leg before wicket as the hosts’ total read a weak 36 for 3 after the Power Play period of six overs. Deepak Hooda too did not live up to his promise, hitting Andre Russell into the hands of Umesh Yadav at long-on as the hosts slipped to 50 for 4 in the 10th over. It was then that Ojha joined Morgan to lend some respectability to the team total.

Scoreboard Sunrisers Hyderabad: D. Warner c Yadav b Umesh 13, S. Dhawan c Uthappa b Morkel 6, M. Henriques lbw b Umesh 6, E. Morgan c Shakib b Umesh 51, D. Hooda c Yadav b Russell 6, N. Ojha c Chawla b Morkel 37, A. Ashish Reddy (run out) 13, Karn Sharma (not out) 2, B. Kumar (not out) 0. Extras: (b1, lb2, w 4, nb1) 8. Total: (for 7 wkts, in 20 overs) 142. FoW: 1-18, 2-23, 3-36, 4-50, 5-117, 6-128, 7-141. Bowling: Morkel 4-0-35-2 (1nb, 3w), Yadav 4-0-28-3 (1w), Shakib 3-0-18-0, Russell 4-0-19-1, Narine 4-0-26-0, Chawla 1-0-13-0.

Kolkata Knight Riders: R. Uthappa lbw b Ashish 38, G. Gambhir (not out) 90, A. Russell b Mustafizur 2, M. Pandey (not out) 11. Extras: (w5) 5. Total: (for 2 wkts, in 18.2 overs) 146. FoW: 1-92, 2-97. Bowling: Kumar 4-0-29-0 (1w), Sran 4-0-31-0 (2w), Mustafizur 4-0-29-1 (1w), Karn 2.2-0-24-0, Henriques 2-0-19-0 (1w_, Ashish 2-0-14-1.