Hyderabad (TIP)– The self-destructing batters let Sunrisers Hyderabad down again to hand Kolkata Knight Riders a much-needed five-run win in the IPL here on May 4.
Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh came up with a fruitful 61-run partnership to help Kolkata post 171/9 and then their bowlers, especially Shardul Thakur (2/23) and Vaibhav Arora (2/32), helped the two-time IPL champions limit Hyderabad to 166/8 in 20 overs.
Varun Chakravarthy bowled a brilliant last over to eke out a win for his team.
Kolkata earned their fourth victory of the season and are now on eight points, while Hyderabad, who remained stranded on six points, suffered a huge blow to their chances of making the playoffs. It was a hard-fought for Kolkata, given that Hyderabad’s South African pair of skipper Aiden Markram (41 off 40 balls) and Heinrich Klaasen (36 off 20 balls) had at one point looked to take the match away with their 70-run partnership.
Brief scores: KKR: 171/9 in 20 overs (Rinku 46, Rana 42; Jansen 2/24); SRH: 166/8 in 20 overs (Markram 41; Thakur 2/23).
Top spot at stake as RR take on GT
Jaipur: Gujarat Titans will be eager to better their underwhelming batting display when they take on an inconsistent Rajasthan Royals in the IPL here tomorrow. Both teams are coming off losses and will look to get back to winning ways. Gujarat are perched atop the points table with 12 points despite their five-run loss to Delhi Capitals, while Rajasthan are fourth with 10 points. The Sanju Samson-led side has ample talent but has been unable to hold on to their winning run recently. They have lost three games and won as many in their last six fixtures. In their last match against Mumbai Indians, their bowling department failed to defend 212. Pace spearhead Trent Boult, all-rounder Jason Holder, spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Sen all bled runs. However, Rajasthan can take some solace from the fact that they emerged victorious earlier in the season against Gujarat. Source: PTI
Tag: Shardul Thakur
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IPL 2023 : KKR keep themselves in the hunt as SRH’s fortunes dip
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IND vs ENG, 2nd ODI: Series win in sight, India fret over spin combination
Mumbai (TIP): An image of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, arms around their shoulders, trended on social media on Wednesday as Team India made the most of a rare leisure day in their bio-bubble in Pune. But come Friday, they will be back to business as the hosts look to overpower England in the second ODI and seal the three-game series.
Keeping England’s aggression in check may not be easy for India and the visitors’ belligerence seldom dips. After putting up a 318-run target in the first ODI, the Kohli-led Indian team had to weather an England batting storm that saw them notch 131/0 in just 14 overs, although the chase faltered in the latter stages with Shardul Thakur striking crucial blows. Credit should go to debutant pacer Prasidh Krishna (4/54), Thakur (3/37) and the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/30) for stopping England’s onslaught. The Indian spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Krunal Pandya – who combined went for 127/1 in 19 overs – were unimpressive. If Hardik Pandya is going to be used sparingly in bowling, then getting the spin combination right becomes even more vital.
Krunal, after conceding 36 in his first three overs, managed to pull things back but Yadav looked listless in his nine overs. The Chinaman bowler, who has been regularly overlooked for a place in the XI in the last few months, couldn’t do any good to his future prospects. His numbers show a worrying trend. Yadav, picked as a mystery spinner after the 2017 Champions Trophy, took 93 wickets at an average of 23 and economy rate of 4.95 till the 2019 World Cup. After that, he has averaged 51.41 for his 12 wickets, conceding 6.1 runs per over.
In Yuzvendra Chahal, India has an able replacement but bringing in the leg-spinner could be a risk against a batting line-up comprising attacking left-handers like Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Sam Curran. Besides, Krunal, whose place in the team looks assured thanks to his 31-ball 58* on debut in the first ODI, also brings the ball into the left hander. Washington Sundar is the other spinner in the squad but India may not be confident of using him as a lead spinner in the ODIs. Source: HT
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Kohli returns to top 5 in ICC T20I rankings
Following his stellar performance in the ongoing series against England, India skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday broke back into the top of the ICC T20 batsmen rankings. Kohli, a formerly top-ranked batsman in the format and currently number one in ODIs, gained one slot and a massive 47 rating points after unbeaten knocks of 73 and 77 in the second and third matches against England, to be placed fifth.
KL Rahul remains the top-ranked Indian batsmen at the fourth spot despite three failures in the series so far.
Shreyas Iyer is up 32 places to the 31st spot while Rishabh Pant gained 30 spots to be ranked 80th.
Among bowlers, all-rounder Washington Sundar is up two places to 11th while seamers Shardul Thakur (up 14 places to 27th) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (up seven places to 45th) have also gained.
Jos Buttler has re-entered the top 20. His match-winning 83 not out in the third match has helped him advance five places to 19th position, just two shy of his career-best 17th position attained in October 2018.
There were also some other fine performances in the series, between the top two sides, which England leads 2-1. Jonny Bairstow, who chipped in with 40 runs and was associated in an unbroken 77-run stand with Buttler in the eight-wicket win on Tuesday, has moved up two slots to 14th position in the list led by his compatriot Dawid Malan.