IPL 2021
3rd Match: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) VS Sun Risers Hyderabad (SRH)
Played at Chennai on 11 April 2021
KKR 187/6 (Nitish Rana 80, Rahul Tripathi 53, Dinesh Karthik 22, Rashid Khan 2/24, Mohammad Nabi 2/32)
SRH; 177/5 (Manish Pandey 61*, Jonny Bairstow 55, Pradish Krishna 2/35 , Shakib 1/ 34)
KKR Won by 10 Runs
Player Of The Match: Nitish Rana
Popular IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) did not the Sun Rise for Hyderabad.In another nerve wrecking tight match that could go either way till Russell got rid of Vijay Shankar in the 18th over of SRH innings KKR piped SRH to the post winning by 10 runs. Batting first KKR scored 187/6. SRH could go as far as 177/5. Apart from taking the first wicket of SRH with his first ball star all rounder Shakib Al Hasan did not glow. He was not slotted to bat at three. Batting at 7 he scored 3 off 5 deliveries and took 1/34 off his 4 overs. Off course it was the first match where Eoin Morgan (2) and Andre Russel (5) also failed with the bat.
Pre match discussions gave some hints that Shakib may be slotted at three in KKR batting. He played exceptionally well in that position for Bangladesh in ICC world cup. He was preferred over Sunil Narine, Ben Cuttings possibly for his role as batting all rounder. But slotting him at 7 was possibly did not do justice. His position could be swapped with Russel slotted at four and failing. KKR batting was spearheaded by two Indians, Nitish Rana (80 in 56 deliveries) and Rahul Tripathi (53 off 29 balls). The 2nd wicket partnership producing 93 priceless run was the match defining. However, based on such a solid foundation Russell and Morgan failed to keep the momentum going. Coming into bat in the 18th Over Shakib also could do nothing. KKR slumped from 160/5 in the 18th over to 187/6. Shakib is not a power hitter.
Slotting him at 7 is not doing justice to his talent. Two top Afghans Rashid Khan 92/24) and Mohammad Nabi (2/32) proved why Afghans are rated so high in T20 Franchise across the cricket world.
Pradish Krishna rocked SRH removing David Warner in very second over before he could spread his wings. The innings got further thwarted when Shakib struck with the very first ball of his spell removing Wriddhiman Saha. SRH was looking down the barrel at 10/2. But two top batsmen of T20 now Manish Pandey (61* in 44 deliveries) and Jonny Bairstow ( 55 in 40 balls ) producing 92 runs 3rd wicket partnership almost took the match away from KKR. Pat Cumming removing Bairstow turned the tide. Still Vijay Shankar and Abdus Samad kept rallying. Russel struck at the crunch time removing Vijay Shankar. SRH could not go beyond 177/5 as they lacked muscle power at the death overs.
Hope in the next matches Shakib would be slotted at least within the top four to extract the best out of him.
BDST: 1120 HRS, APR 12, 2021
SMS
