Spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine helped Kolkata Knight Riders to their third straight win in the IPL as they beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets on Sunday.
Chakravarthy returned figures of 3-36 and Narine claimed 2-31 to help bowl out hosts Hyderabad for 165 in 19 overs despite opener Travis Head’s blistering 61 off 28 balls.
Three-time champions Kolkata chased down their target in 18.2 overs with Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who hit 59, and skipper Ajinkya Rahane (43) putting together a key stand of 84.
Rahane and Raghuvanshi departed before Rinku Singh, unbeaten on 22, and Cameron Green, three not out, steered the team home to snap Hyderabad’s five-match winning streak.
Hyderabad, led by Pat Cummins, are third on the 10-team table with six wins and four defeats from 10 matches.
Kolkata are eighth, but still in the hunt for the playoffs with three wins from nine matches.
Top four teams at the end of the league stage will move into the playoffs.
Kolkata’s New Zealand opener Finn Allen provided the early fireworks in his 13-ball 29 as he took on Australia pace ace Cummins with two sixes and two fours.
Cummins took revenge in the 27-run over when he got Allen caught out on the last ball but the blazing start put Kolkata on course to victory.
Raghuvanshi, a wicketkeeper-batter, and Rahane then put on a defiant stand to close in on victory before the left-handed Rinku hit the winning four.
The bowlers set up victory as pacer Kartik Tyagi took down Abhishek Sharma for 15 after the left-handed opener climbed to the top of the batting chart with 440 runs in 10 matches.
Australia’s Head hammered the bowlers to all parts of the ground as he hit nine fours and three sixes before Chakravarthy had him caught at mid-wicket by Green.
Narine dismissed Ishan Kishan for 42 and the Hyderabad batting lost its way in the final 10 overs with the spinners applying the choke.
Tyagi took 2-30 and complimented his teams’ spinners with his quick bowling.
Source: Khaleej Times