Kolkata Knight Riders book a seat in the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 by defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in Qualifier 1 at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. (As It Happened | Scorecard)
SRH will lock horns with the winner of Eliminator in Qualifier 2. Royal Challengers Bengaluru are set to face Rajasthan Royals in Eliminator on Wednesday. The loser will be knocked out of the league and the winner will fight the Pat Cummins-led for the coveted seat in the final in the second qualifier on Friday.
Chasing a below-par target of 160 runs, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sunil Narine got off to a flying start by scoring 16 runs from the first over of SRH skipper Pat Cummins. T Natarajan dismissed Gurbaz in the fourth over after he scored 23 runs off 14 balls, including two sixes and two fours.
Venkatesh Iyer replaced Gurbaz at the crease and he started with a boundary on the first delivery. Then he hit back-to-back fours to Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the next over to get the momentum going. Unfortunately, Narine lost his wicket to Vijayakanth Viyaskanth just after the powerplay.
Venkatesh Iyer completed his half-century with a maximum on Nitish Reddy's last delivery of the 13th over. With 18 runs needed in seven overs, Pat Cummins handed the ball to Travis Head. Shreyas smashed him for three sixes and a four in the first four deliveries to finish the match in just 13.4 overs.
Earlier, SRH captain Cummins decided to bat first and put up a huge total on the board. But the compatriot Mitchell Starc bowled Travis Head on the second delivery of the first over to put pressure on the SR batters. Vaibhav Arora sent Abhishek Sharma back to the pavilion in the next over to add more pressure.
The inexperienced and young batting lineup of SRH never looked settled as Starc dismissed Nitish Reddy and Shahbaz Ahmed on back-to-back deliveries in the fifth over. SRH were reeling at 39/4 after five overs.
Rahul Tripathi showed some resilience and maturity in his batting and completed a 50-run stand with Heinrich Klaasen to keep SRH hopes alive. He also completed his 12th IPL fifty and first of the season just before Varun Chakaravarthy dismissed Klaasen for 32 off 21 balls.
Abdul Samad smashed some big sixes but got involved in a tragic run-out which sent Tripathi back to the pavilion. He made 55 runs off 35 balls with seven fours and one six.
On the next delivery, Sunil Narine bowled Sanvir Singh. He failed to impress again as the ball first hit his pads and then went on to crash the stumps. Samad was also caught at the long-off in the next over by the KKR captain near the ropes.
Pat Cummins made a valiant 30 off 24 balls to take his team to 159 all out in 19.3 overs. He hit two sixes and two fours in his innings.
Now, SRH will go to Chennai to play the second Qualifier against the winners of Eliminator. Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru clash in Eliminator on Wednesday and the winner will play SRH on Friday.
