Kolkata Knights Riders outplayed Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday as they recorded a 7-wicket win over them at the Sheikh Zayed International Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Dinesh Karthik-led KKR restricted SRH to just 142 runs in 20 overs with Pat Cummins (1/19) and Varun Chakravarthy (1/25) shining with the ball. But the plaudits at the end of the match went to 21-year-old Shubman Gill.
The 21-year-old opener anchored the chase perfectly as Morgan counterattacked to seal the issue in KKR’s favour with two overs to spare, after their opening game debacle. The praises kept on coming for Shubman after his assured knock. Former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris said that Shubman is his favourite India player after Rohit Sharma.
“My favourite Indian cricketer, maybe Rohit Sharma above him, that’s it. He needs to be KKR’s best player if they have to win IPL, said Scott Styris on Star Sports.
Opting to bat, Sunrisers Hyderabad never got going after Cummins and rookie spinner Chakravarthy removed the opening pair of Jonny Bairstow and David Warner respectively and were restricted to a below-par 142/4.
After an explosive start by KKR, the bowling-heavy SRH did make some inroads with Khalil Ahmed and T Natarajan dismissing Sunil Narine (0) and Nitish Rana (26 off 13).
Rashid Khan got into the act straightway, trapping KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik for a duck.
