IPL 2018: KKR beat SRH by 5 wickets, qualify for playoffs; Lynn shines

Kolkata Knight Riders beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 5 wickets to seal their place in the playoffs.

In the 54^th match of Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL 201, Kolkata Knight Riders beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 5 wickets and booked their place in the playoffs. Chasing a target of 173, SRH bowlers did not look as menacing as they used to be. Chris Lynn hit a fifty. KKR moved to third place on the VIVO IPL points table.

Earlier, Kane Williamson's Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) scored 172-9 in their 20 overs, thanks to 50 runs by Shikhar Dhawan and a few handy performances by Kane Williamson and Goswami. The Kolkayamiddle order batsmen could not score much as the Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers kept it tight and did not leak runs. KKR will now need 173 runs to win. 

IPL 2018 Match 54 SRH vs KKR SCOREBOARD

Kolkata Knight Riders innings update: Over by over

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

Over 1: Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine to open for KKR. Bhuvi to start for SRH. Dot ball. Another dot. Cracking shot for four by Lynn. Driven to mid-off for one. Brillaint yorker, just put away. Wide off the off stump, dispatched for four. KKR: 10-0

Over 2: Sandeep Sharma comes in, four. And another four. This time over the cover. WIDE. SIX. 20 runs from the over. KKR: 30-0

Over 3: Sidhharth Kaul comes to the attack, Dot. SIX, over the mid-wicket. Dot this time. Hit over the head of the bowler for four. Good yorker. Just one to finish the over. KKR: 41-0

Over 4: Shakib Al Hasan comes to the attack. SIX. Narine is on fire. In the air, gone. Robin Uthappa is the new man in. KKR: 53-1

Over 5: Bhuvi is back, dot ball. Four. Inside edge, misses stump. KKR: 60-1

Over 6: Kaul is back, Just one so far. Good shot for one. Uthappa pulls for four. KKR: 66-1

Over 7: Rashid Khan comes to the attack. KKR: 71-1

Over 8: Carlos Braithwaite comes to the attack, Lynn hits him for a six. Swing and a miss. Another shot but just one. KKR: 80-1

Over 9: Rashid is back, hit high in the air, dropped. KKR: 85-1

Over 10: Shakib continues, one run. Dot again. One run. KKR: 90-1

Over 11: Sandeep is back, Tries to pulls, misses. Massiv six. 50 up for Lynn. 100 up for KKR. KKR: 100-1

Over 12: Shakib continues. Uthappa hits a god six. FOur, beautiful cut shot. Dot ball. KKR: 113-1

Over 13: Rashid Khan is back, Well swept for one. Two runs to Lynn. KKR: 119-1

Over 14: Kaul continues, Lynn is gone. Dinesh Karthik comes in. He almost edged it. Single to DK.Godo ball. Dot to finish. KKR: 121-2

Over 15: Bhuvi is back, one run. One run. Top edge for six. In the air, just out of reach. KKR: 133-2

Over 16: Rashid Khan to bowl his last, one run. Double. Brilliant four.  SIX. Rashid hitting it hard. 15 run from the over. KKR: 147-2

Over 17: Braithwaite is back, one run. In the air, gone. Karthik pulls for four. Full toss, just for one. Bouncer to end. KKR: 155-3

Ober 18: Kaul continues, Top edge for four. Russell hits high in the air, Pandey takes it. WIDE. One run. KKR: 163-4

Over 19: Bhuuvi continues, one run. Two runs to DK. One run. KKR: 168-4

Over 20: Braithwaite to bowl the final. First ball four. Rana pulls and caught in the deep. KKR win by 5 wickets.

Kolkata Knight Riders innings analysis after 20 overs

Chasing the target of 172 runs, Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine opened for Kolkata Knight Riders while Bhuvneswar Kumar bowled the first over and conceded for 10 runs. Sunil Narine hammered Sandeep Sharma all over the park for 20 runs. Narine swings the bat at every ball and gave KKR flying start. Chris Lynn took the charge from the other end as he scored 11 runs of the Siddharth Kaul first over. After 3 overs KKR were 41 for no loss

Shakib Al Hasan gave SRH the much-needed breakthrough as he got the wicket of Sunil Narine. But Narine did the job for which he was sent to open the batting scoring 29 runs in 10 balls. Robin Uthappa replaced Narine in the middle. Bhuvneswar was asked to bowl the 5th over and he put the lid in the run flow conceding only 7 runs. After the dismissal of Sunil Narine, the SRH bowlers were able to restrict the run flow as Siddharth Kaul conceded only 6 runs in the last over of the powerplay.

After the powerplay, Rashid Khan was asked to bowl the 7th over and conceded only 5 runs. Carlos Braithwaite bowled the 8th over and smashed for a six by Lynn as he conceded 9 runs in his first over. Rashid Khan continued from the other end and conceded 5 runs. Despite losing Sunil Narine early KKR were scoring with a healthy run rate of 9.44 runs per over.

Shakib Al Hasan bowled 10th over and conceded only 5 runs. Sandeep Sharma came to bowl the 11th over and Chris Lynn hit the 5th ball for 6 to complete his fifty. After bowling an economical over Hasan gave away 13 runs in the next as KKR cruising to the victory needing 60 runs in 48 balls. In a desperate need of a wicket, Rashid Khan was brought in and he did bowl with great line but didn't able to provide a breakthrough. But Siddharth Kaul managed to get the wicket of Chris Lynn (55 runs off 43 balls). Kaul conceded 2 runs in his 3rd over trying to pull the came back for SRH. To keep the pressure on Bhuvneswar Kumar was asked to bowl the 15th over but failed to maintain the pressure as Karthik hit a six off the 4th ball. Rashid Khan bowled the 16th over and went for 15 runs as Robin Uthappa hit a six and a four. In 24 balls KKR needed 26 runs.

Carlos Braithwaite bowled the 17th over and got the wicket of Uthappa of a short ball but KKR kept on playing the big shot as Braithwaite conceded 8 runs. Siddharth Kaul bowled the 18th over and got the wicket of Russell after hit for a four. Bhuvneswar Kumar bowled brilliantly to concede only 5 runs as yet another game in IPL 2018. KKR needed 5 runs in last over. Carlos Braithwaite bowled the last over of the match and hit for a four off the first ball and get the wicket of Nitish Rana next ball to spice up the game and Karthik took a single to win the match for KKR and with this KKR were qualified for the playoffs

Sunrisers Hyderabad innings update: Over by over

Sunrisers Hyderabad playing XI for today's match: 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

Over 1: Nitish Rana comes to the attack, Brilliant four by Shikhar Dhawan. Dot balls. SRH: 5-0

Over 2: Prasidh Krishna comes to the attack, Dhawan wacks him for four. Edge, just one. Another dot. Slashed for four, hit very hard. Dot ball. SRH: 16-0

Over 3: Andre Russell comes to the attack, dot ball. WIDE. Top edge, out. It is off the helmet. Not out. What a shot, huge six, Shreewats Goswami hit that beautifully. No ball. FREE HIT. Driven for four. Over the keeper's head, 4 bys. In the gap, four runs. 20 from the over. SRH: 36-0 

Over 4: Sunil Narine comes to bowl, saved certain four over there Nitish Rana. Dealing in singles. Four runs came from the over. SRH: 40-0

Over 5: Piyush Chawla comes to the attack, Goswami plays a cover drive and fielder just let it go. In the air on the off side, two runs to Goswami. One run to Goswami. Brilliant sweep by Shikhar for four. SRH: 51-0

Over 6: Narine continues, Dot ball. One run. Dhawan picked the line and hit it through, SIX runs. Dot ball. Wide. SRH: 60-0

Over 7: Kuldeep Yadav comes to the attack, Hit straight back to the attack. Brilliant reverse sweep for four. Dot ball. Pulled by Dhawan for four. SRH: 70-0

Over 8: Javon Searles comes to the attack. Double for Goswami. Quick single. SRH: 76-0

Over 9: Kuldeep continues, one run. Another single. Goswami mis-timed that shot and he is caught in the deep by Russell. Goswami goes for 35. Kane Williamson is the new man in and he starts off with a pull and dispatches it for four. SRH: 84-1

Over 10: Chawla comes back, Dhawan gets two. One run. Single to Kane. Double to Dhawan. SRH: 92-1

Over 11: Yadav continues, Just one. Full toss, Kane fails to dispatch it. Dhawan flicks for two. Williamson picks the line quickly and wacks it over mid-wicket for six. 100 up for SRH. Pulled for two. 12 runs from the over. SRH: 104-1

Over 12: Narine continues, Williamson takes two. Dot ball to Kane. Onto the pads, no run. Single to Williamson. Dhawan sweeps for one. Very good running. SRH: 110-1

Over 13: Javon Searles comes to the attack, hit very high in the air by Dhawan, Narine drops it, three runs taken. Kane sweeps hard and gets a six for it. Onto the leg stump, hit for a six yet again. Two runs to Kane. Powerful cut and this time Russell takes it. He goes for 36. Manish Pandey is the new man in. SRH: 128-2

Over 14: Kuldeep continues, dealing in singles. Quick single.50 for Dhawan. Just one. SRH: 133-2

Over 15: Andre Russell comes back, good ball. Amazing glance for four, beautiful shot by Manish. Bouncer, one for the over. Another dot. Four, pathetic mis-field. SRH: 141-2

Over 16: Prasidh comes back,  Dhawan misses the line, he is LBW. He goes for 50. 

Over 16: Prasidh comes back,  Dhawan misses the line, he is LBW. He goes for 50. One run. Another run. Bouncer. One run. SRH: 146-3

Over 17: Narine is back, One run. Yusuf Pathan is out, hit high in the air and he is gone.  Carlos Braithwaite is the new man in. One run. WIDE. SRH: 151-4

Over 18: Prasidh comes to the attack, SIX. SRH: 161-4

Over 19: Russell continues, mis-hit and Braithwaite is gone. He goes for 3. Shakib comes in to bat. Four runs to Shakib. SRH: 168-5

Over 20: Prasidh to finish it off, Manish Pandey hits it and Rinku takes a brilliant catch. Good yorker. FOund the gap this time, goes for four. In the air, gone. Out. Run Out. SRH: 172-9

Sunrisers Hyderabad innings analysis after 20 overs

Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to bat against Kolkata Knight Riders. Shikhar Dhawan and Sreevats Goswami opened the innings for SRH while Nitish Rana bowled the first over and conceded 5 runs. Shikhar Dhawan looked in sublime form and hit the first ball of Prasidh Krishna for four. Krishna gave Shikhar extra room outside off and Dhawan cut the ball for 2nd four of the over. Prasidh conceded 11 runs as SRH got off a steady start where maximum strike was taken by Shikhar Dhawan. Russell bowled the 3rd over and Goswami played a brilliant extra cover drive for six followed by a four of the free hit. Russell conceded 20 runs in his first as Goswami came with all guns blazing. After 3 SRH were 36 for no loss.

To curb the run flow Sunil Narine came to bowl the 4th over and successful to limit the run flow. Piyush Chawla bowled the 5th over and went for 11 runs as he got hammered for 2 fours. While Narine continued from the other end Dhawan smashed him for a six as SRH collected 9 runs of it. Kuldeep Yadav asked to bowl the 7th over and SRH batsmen didn't spare him either as they collected 10 runs off him thanks to a boundary each by Dhawan and Goswami. SRH batsmen looked quite confident as they were playing their shots freely. Among the two SRH openers, Sreevats Goswami was impressive as he was smashing the KKR bowlers with great confident playing only the 3rd match in IPL 2018. Javon Searles bowled the 8th over and didn't bowl a boundary ball as he conceded only 6 runs in his first.  Kuldeep Yadav too learnt from his mistakes in first over and bowled in good areas which resulted in the wicket of Sreevats Goswami. Kane Williamson replaced Goswami in the middle and continued from where he left in the previous match. After 9 SRH were 84/1

The runs were coming easily for Sunrisers Hyderabad as they were managed to maintain the 9 runs per over in from the beginning. Chawla conceded 8 runs as SRH batsmen manoeuvred him for singles and doubles easily. Kuldeep Yadav did bowl with great line and length but Williamson showed his class hitting a six to collect 12 runs. Narine in his 3rd over managed to bowl some dot ball as Dhawan didn't able to pick him. Narine after bowling a brilliant over dropped a sitter in short third man giving life to Shikhar Dhawan. And from the other end Williamson taking full advantage of wayward bowling by Searles. But the bowler had the last laugh as he got the wicket of Williamson. Manish Pandey came to the crease after the wicket as Searles conceded 18 runs in 2nd over. After 13 overs SRH were 128/2 scoring with the run rate of 9.82

Williamson wicket did slow the run flow as Manish Pandey found it difficult to put Kuldeep Yadav away and only scored 5 runs off it. Shikhar Dhawan completed his fifty with a single of the last ball. Russell bowled the 15th over started with two dot balls but Pandey whipped the third ball for four but Russell came back brilliantly bowling two consecutive dot ball and the last ball went for four thanks to sloppy fielding by Piyush Chawla. Prasidh Krishna came to bowl the 16th over and trapped Shikhar Dhawan in front of the wicket. As the new men were at the crease it was a chance for KKR to pull back the run rate and they were successful to do as Prasidh conceded only 5 runs while Narine picked the big wicket of Pathan and conceded 5 runs in the 17th over.

Prasidh Krishna bowled the 18th over and conceded 10 runs as KKR batsmen were able to curb the run flow as run rate drops below 9 runs per over. Carlos Brathwaite playing his first game in IPL 2018 didn't do much and got out scoring only 3 runs. Russell got the wicket of Brathwaite and conceded only 7 runs in the 19th over. Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers bowled brilliantly in the death overs as they only conceded 34 runs in last 4 over. Prasidh Krishna who bowled the last over of the innings took 3 wickets and conceded only 4. Sunrisers Hyderabad set the target of 173 runs for Kolkata Knight Riders

Here are a few things to know about the Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (KKR vs SRH) match to be played at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, the two teams' players who could prove handy, and who has said what before the clash:
 
KKR ready for the must-win game, says coach Kallis: Kolkata Knight Riders coach Jacques Kallis said his team would put its best foot forward to make it to the playoffs of the IPL 2018 when it takes on formidable Sunrisers Hyderabad in a crucial today’s IPL match. Yes, it's a must-win game and the team needs to put up a competitive performance to make it to the playoffs," Kallis said in the pre-match press conference. Placed third on the points table with 14 points, KKR will have to beat SRH to confirm its spot in the playoffs. If it loses, it will have to hope for other results to go its way. They (Sunrisers Hyderabad) have played some good cricket. They are obviously coming off a loss but they have already qualified. We will have to play some good cricket to beat them, he said. SRH has already qualified for the playoffs is at the top of the table with 18 points.
 
Williamson has been a good T20 player for number of years, says Moody: Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Kane Williamson has been a revelation this season both with the bat and with his leadership skills, and the team's head coach Tom Moody said he wasn't surprised at all as the New Zealand batsman has been a good T20 player for a number of years. To be honest it has not been a surprise to us. Kane (Williamson) has been a good T20 player for a number of years. It is really an opportunity for people watching to see the versatility in Kane Williamson," he said. "He has got a T20 hundred, I think about four years ago in the Champions League. It is no surprise to us that Kane has the ability to adapt from Test cricket to 50-over cricket, down to T20 cricket. That is why we bought him four years ago," Moody said on the eve of their IPL match against Chennai Super Kings.
 
Warne's presence motivated Kuldeep to register career-best IPL figures: Young chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav said the presence of his idol, legendary Shane Warne in the Rajasthan Royals dug-out has motivated him to produce his career-best performance in the Indian Premier League. Till last night, Kuldeep was having a somewhat quiet time in the ongoing IPL with just nine wickets from 12 outings at an economy rate of around 8.5. But by his own admission, Kuldeep said he was determined to turn things around in front of the Australian spin legend, who is the mentor of Rajasthan Royals team. "I'm always a big fan of him (Warne). He has been my idol. I always get a different kind of motivation when I play in front of him. I wanted to put up a good show in front of him," Kuldeep said at the post-match news conference. Kuldeep grabbed 4-20 and earned Kolkata Knight Riders an important six-wicket victory over Rajasthan. Kuldeep cleaned up the top order with a wicket in each of his four overs to bowl out Rajasthan for 142 in 19 overs. It was redemption time for Kuldeep last night as he first got Rajasthan skipper Ajinkya Rahane out bowled with a loopy googly, and then dismissed dangerman Jos Buttler.
 
Replacing Warner is impossible, says SRH skipper Williamson: Named captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad after the banned David Warner was ruled out of the Indian Premier League's 11th edition, Kane Williamson today said it's "impossible to be a replacement" for the explosive Australian opener in the T20 franchise's setup. "I don't think it's a matter of replacing David Warner. I think that's probably an impossible thing to do. He is one of the best T20 batters in the world and for this franchise in the last few years," Williamson said.
 
Here is how KKR and SRH fare in head-to-head comparisons in IPL matches played so far
 
Overall 

Matches played: 14
Sunrisers Hyderabad won: 5
Kolkata Knight Riders won: 9

With agency input