It was a run-chase that would be remembered for a long time to come as Kolkata Knight Riders made the impossible possible against the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
The home side stormed to the target of 161 in 14.2 overs to displace Chennai Super Kings from the second spot in the IPL 2014 Points Table. Yusuf Pathan was the man of the moment who smashed 72 off 22 balls
When Hyderabad setup a total of 160 for seven, Kolkata had to get their target 15.2 overs. And, what a run-chase it was. After a decent start, powered yet again by Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa. Uthappa smashed 41 off 30 when he was dismissed in the 10th over. Ryan ten Doeschate was then dismissed first ball and at 78 for four in 10, it looked unlikely Kolkata would make it before the settled mark.
But that was when Pathan teed off. Helped by a dropped chances through the innings, he started using his luck and smashing it around. He smashed Parvez Rasool for 22 in an over. Later, Karn Sharma was also smashed around. Dale Steyn wasn’t spared either as Pathan got his fifty in 15 ball, which is the fastest fifty in IPL history.
All bowlers were carted left right and centre. They were sent towards mid-wicket and then carted down the ground. When Steyn tried to pitch it short, he was smashed behind square for a four. Steyn was smashed for 25 runs. And that brought down the required equation 19 from 14 balls. Yusuf then smashed a six off Karn later as well and then brought it down to eight to get off nine balls. But, his luck ran out when he holed out to the deep. He scored 72 off 22 balls.
Earlier, Hyderabad’s innings was a stop-start affair as their batsmen got starts but did not go on to make big scores. Shikhar Dhawan and Darren Sammy scored 29 each, but then all that doesn’t matter in context of what happened later. Shakib Al Hasan was on song with the ball again with one for 25 in four overs. Kolkata had a mixed day in the field as their bowling was a bit wayward and fielding had its embarrasing moments.
Kolkata will now face Kings XI Punjab in the Qualifier on their home turf on Tuesday.
Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 160 for 7 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 29, Darren Sammy 29;Morne Morkel 1 for 32, Shakib Al Hasan 1 for 25, Ryan ten Doeschate 1 for 7, Vinay Kumar 1 for 32) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 161 for 6 in 14.2 overs (Yusuf Pathan 72; Karn Sharma 4 for 39) by 4 wickets.
