Xtra Time Web Desk: A stroke filled 80(57) from Nitish Rana helped Kolkata Knight Riders register 10 runs win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 3rd match of the IPL 2021 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday. Rahul Tripathi too batted brilliantly to score 53 off 29, as he and Rana (Nitish) stitched a very crucial 93 runs for the second wicket to set 188 runs target.
A disciplined bowling led by Pat Cummins and Prasidh Krishna helped the Purple Army win the match, despite half-centuries from Manish Pandey 61(44) and Jonny Bairstow 55(40).
Veteran Harbhajan Singh made his debut for the Knight Riders as he opened the bowling with Shakib Al Hasan. The last time Harbhajan played a competitive match was back in IPL 20219. The other prominent name for KKR is Shakib Al Hasan who picked the wicket of Wriddhiman Saha off his first delivery.
KKR were off to a good start with Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill taking advantage of the powerplay. After Gill was dismissed in the 7th over, Rana anchored the innings with Rahul Tripathi with both scoring quick runs to put SRH on the backfoot. After Rana completed his 50 off 37 balls, Tripathi brought up his in 27. But once Tripathi was out T Natarajan, Rashid Khan put a check on the scoring with some fine bowling.
From the other end, Mohammad Nabi rattled KKR with two wickets in two balls — Nitish Rana (80) and Eoin Morgan (2) in the 18th over. In the end, KKR posted 187/6 after Dinesh Karthik’s late charge with 22 off 9.
Sunrisers were off to the worst possible start in the tough chase, losing David Warner and Wriddhiman Saha within the third over. But Bairstow and Pandey anchored the innings with a 92-run partnership. Both completed their half-centuries to keep SRH in the game. Pat Cummins gave KKR an important breakthrough by seeing the back of Bairstow caught at point by Nitish Rana. Abdul Samad played a long handle towards the end hitting Cummins for two outrageous six but that was not enough to take his side home.