IPL 2018, KKR vs SRH: Williamson leads from the front as SRH continue dominance

Kolkata: Sunrisers Hyderabad continued their winning run in the 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL) by beating Kolkata Knight Riders by five wickets at the Eden Gardens on Saturday.

Earlier in the first innings, Bhuvneshwar Kumar starred as the visitors restricted Dinesh Karthik and co to 138-8. And they continued the momemtum in the second half to clinch their third victory of the season.

Wriddhiman Saha delivered an explosive start for the Sunrisers but the hosts bounced back through spinners Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav as they claimed three quick wickets.

Later on, Kane Williamson and Shakib Al Hasan steered the innings with a crucial 69-run stand. The men in purple dismissed the duo soon but by then things had already slipped out of their hands.

SRH 126-5 after 18 overs:

CAUGHT! Big wicket but is it too late now? Good length delivery and Williamson flicks it towards the man at square leg moments after bringing up his fifty.

SRH 114-4 after 17 overs:

WICKET! Shakib charges down the track but is cramped for room by Chawla. Ball deflects of the pads before disrupting the bails.

SRH 58-3 after 9 overs:

WICKET! And the finger goes up right away. Kuldeep tosses it up and the ball pitches in line before striking Pandey on the knee roll.

SRH 46-2 after 6 overs:

BOWLED HIM! And it's Narine again. Fullish delivery and Dhawan looks to tuck it away but is too late into his shot. Through the gates and he's out.

SRH 35-1 after 4 overs:

WICKET! Soft dismissal and Narine draws first blood. Simple off-spinner down leg and Saha gets a faint edge which lands straight in Uthappa's hands.

1st innings:

After electing to bowl first, Sunrisers Hyderabad dished out a clinical performance as they restricted the Kolkata Knight Riders to 138-8 at the Eden Gardens on Saturday.

The hosts lost Robin Uthappa early on but Chris Lynn continued to smack hard at the top. But after the showers interrupted play, the men in purple failed to carry on the same momentum they had shown in the powerplay.

Sunrisers bounced back with wickets at regular intervals and never let the opposition to build any sort of partnership. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the chief wrecker with three wickets while Billy Stanlake and Shakib Al Hasan shared two each. Siddharth Kaul also claimed a wicket.

KKR 138-8 after 20 overs:

WICKET! Siddharth Kaul finally claims a victim. Knuckle ball and Mavi has a go at it. The ball nicks the toe-end of the bat and Bhuvneshwar Kumar collects it well in time before a collision with Stanlake at short fine leg.

KKR 113-6 after 17 overs:

WICKET! Bhuvi's change of pace baffles Shubman Gill as he is caught at extra cover.

KKR 97-5 after 14 overs:

WICKET! And Stanlake gets the big fish. Russell look to go big, but gets a top edge which is collected by Manish Pandey.

KKR 55-2 after 8 overs:

WICKET! Pandey you beauty! Short and wide by Stanlake. Rana slashes hard at point and is caught.

KKR 52-1 after 7 overs:

Rain has stopped play at the Eden Gardens after Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) were put to bat by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

SRH 21-1 after 3 overs:

WICKET! Bhuvi strikes and DRS confirms the wicket. Outside off, Uthappa looks to run it down third man but gets a fine edge.

Preview:

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will eye a comeback victory when they face Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) game at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday.

Dinesh Karthik and co lost their previous match to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) away by five wickets in a thrilling encounter and a win will do them a world of good.

SRH meanwhile are riding high on confidence with two back to back victories under their belt and will aim to extend their dominance at the top of the IPL table.

Former KKR players Manish Pandey, Wriddhiman Saha, Yusuf Pathan and Shakib Al Hasan are now reunited at SRH and will aim to exploit the weakness of the opposition.

The two sides have faced each other 12 times, however, it’s the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned side that holds the upper hand with eight wins against their opponents.

Toss:

Sunrisers have won the toss and elected to field.

Here's how the two teams line-up for today -

Kolkata Knight Riders: 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: 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

Squads:

SRH: Kane Williamson (C), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, Rashid Khan, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Sandeep Sharma, Shakib Al Hasan, Carlos Brathwaite, Yusuf Pathan, Mohammad Nabi Eisakhil, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Billy Stanlake, Siddharth Kaul, Deepak Hooda, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Shreevats Goswami, Basil Thampi, T Natarajan, Bipul Sharma, Mehdi Hasan, Ricky Bhui, Sachin Baby, Tanmay Agarwal.

KKR: Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Dinesh Karthik (C and WK), Robin Uthappa, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Nitish Rana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh, Cameron Delport, Javon Searless, Apoorv Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi, Tom Curran.

When is the match?

The match is scheduled to start at 8 pm IST on Saturday (April 14)

Where is the match?

The match will take place at Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Live telecast and timings:

With Star India now acquiring the media rights from Sony Pictures Network India for the upcoming season, the matches will be telecast on various Star Sports channels.

Live streaming:

The matches can be viewed live on Hotstar.com or on the Hotstar app.