Russell entertains but SRH get third win

The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the twenty-fifth game of the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL). The match was played in the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Rahul Tripathi was adjudged to be the Man of the Match.

Seamers provide SRH great start

The Knight Riders made three changes to their starting lineup, including team debuts for Aaron Finch and Aman Khan, as well as the return of Sheldon Jackson. As a result, Ajinkya Rahane had no place in the side. However, Finch's stay was short-lived; in the second over, he nicked an inside edge to the wicketkeeper off Marco Jansen.

Thangarasu Natarajan, who came on, then got two wickets in the fifth over, both of them left-handed batters. Natarajan's first victim was Venkatesh Iyer (bowled), who was followed by Sunil Narine, who cut a slower full toss to cover two balls later.

Williamson's choice to bowl first at the toss seemed vindicated with the Knight Riders at 31 for 3. Umran Malik produced a 148.8 kilometers per hour yorker in the tenth over to dismiss Shreyas Iyer for 28 and leave his stumps flattened on the ground.

Rana-Russell fight back

With his team in peril, it was time for Nitish Rana to come up with a score. He was filling in with the runs, even if he wasn't timing it properly. He struck 54 off just 36 balls. Despite producing 42 false shots out of the 100 bouncers he has faced in the IPL, he was helped by the Sunrisers bowling only two bouncers at him.

In the 18th over, Natarajan dismissed him, but the Sunrisers could not afford to relax with Andre Russell still in the middle. The ball was thrown to spinner Jagadeesha Suchith, who was filling in for injured Washington Sundar, for the 20th over, and Russell smacked him for 6, 6, 4 off the final three deliveries to set the Sunrisers a target of 176.

Sunrisers' openers flop

Both Abhishek Sharma and Kane Williamson were in fine form coming into the game, but Pat Cummins and Russell dispatched them quickly, putting the Sunrisers at 39 for 2 within the powerplay.

Despite the fact that Umesh Yadav failed to gain a wicket in his first over, Cummins reaped the benefits of Yadav's tight bowling as Sharma attempted to take the Australian on in his first over. Cummins bowled an angled length ball that Abhishek pulled back onto his stumps as he came around the stumps.

Throughout the powerplay, Williamson was scratchy. When Williamson was dismissed by Russell, the Sunrisers' run rate would have been under six if it hadn't been for Rahul Tripathi's 12 in his first six balls. For a 16-ball 17, the Sunrisers captain pulled from outside off onto his stumps. Then came the counter-offensive.

Sunrisers' fortunes turned by Tripathi and Markram

When the Knight Riders played the Delhi Capitals, it was Kuldeep Yadav who took it out on his previous team, and it was Tripathi who shredded them on Friday. Tripathi, who the Knight Riders missed out on at the auction after a strong three-team bidding battle, started his innings by dismissing Yadav and Cummins for fours, but it was his pulled six off Russell in the sixth over that really broke the shackles.

Tripathi smacked debutant Aman Hakim Khan for a six and a four, and tonked Varun Chakravarthy for two sixes and a four.

Tripathi used his large stride to get to the pitch of the ball and then used his bottom hand to go across the infield against Chakravarthy in particular. Tripathi was raising his bat for a 21-ball fifty by the time Chakravarthy finished his second over, the ninth of the chase.

With Tripathi's free-flowing strokes at the other end, Aiden Markram could afford to be slow out of the blocks. He, too, was harsh on Chakravarthy, hitting him for a six and a four in a 14-run second over before dismissing Yadav with a hat-trick of fours in his follow-up spell.

As the two approached a century partnership, Tripathi was rushing to finish the game, but he stumbled trying to hit Russell for back-to-back sixes in the 14th over. Tripathi's departure for a 37-ball 71 gave the Knight Riders a chance, with the Sunrisers still needing 49 to win with 36 balls to spare.

Markram, on the other hand, was not going to let it get that close. With 24 balls remaining, he dispatched Chakravarthy for another six and a four (Chakravarthy would complete the evening with an economy rate of 15) to reduce the needed run rate to under six. In the 18th over, he secured the victory after reaching his fifty in 31 balls.