Sunrises Hyderabad beating 228 for 4 (Brook 100*, Markram 50, Abhishek 32, Russell 3-22) Knight Riders of Kolkata 205 for 7 (Rana 75, Rinku 58*, Jagadeesan 36, Markande 2-27, Jansen 2-37) by 23 runs
Brook shows his class
In this game, Brook had 29 runs in three innings with a hit percentage of 74.35. But it was felt that it was only a matter of time before he left. On Friday, he started hitting the first pitch of the innings, bowled by Umesh Yadav, through the covers for four. He picked up two more fours in the over, drawing and scooping the bowler with little fuss.
Against Lockie Ferguson, he exposed his stumps and sent a slow full throw to the cover boundary. He used the same strategy in Umesh’s next over with an even better return – two back-to-back sixes. Thanks to Brook, Sunrisers raced to 43 without a loss in three overs.
Russell’s double attack
Markram takes over
In their spinners, Knight Riders found a way to keep Brook quiet. In the first six overs of the innings, Brook had hit five fours and two sixes. In the next eight – seven of which were bowled by the spinners – he found no boundaries and instead focused on rotating the shot.
However, that didn’t mean Knight Riders could breathe easily. Markram took over and plundered 42 off 22 balls against the spinners. He was tough on Suyash Sharma, in particular, taking over for two sixes and a four in the 12th of the innings. In the next over he hit successive balls from Varun Chakravarthy for a four and a six, the second shot bringing his half-century to 25 balls. He also tried to go big on the next ball, but hollowed out in the deep center of the wicket.
Brook brings up his hundred
Brook continued to pick up a boundary at times, moving to 95 of 52 with one over left. He was tired by then, but found just enough energy to hobble a pair of twos and a single to get his hundred.
Knight Riders are off to a bad start
Bhuvneshwar Kumar dealt an early blow to Knight Riders as Rahmanullah Gurbaz cut the chase’s third ball to deep third. In the fourth over, Marco Jansen dented them further by removing Venkatesh Iyer and Narine from consecutive deliveries. Iyer, coming in as an Impact Player for Suyash, hit a number of boundaries before fouling Markram at the halfway mark. Narine was short on space and was also taken halfway, leaving Knight Riders 20 for 3.
Nitish Rana’s counterattack
It looked like Knight Riders would surrender without a fight, but their captain Rana resuscitated the chase. In the sixth over, he beat Umran Malik for 4, 6, 4, 4, 4, 6. Not every shot came off the center of the bat, but the 28-run over helped Knight Riders end the power play with a solid 62 for 3.
N Jagadeesan gave good support to Rana with his 36 from 21 before Mayank Markande caught him deep in the midwicket. Russell, who had run out twice during the first innings, didn’t last long either, running out into the legspinner’s next over.
At that point Knight Riders needed 133 in 9.5 overs. Rana and Rinku continued to add 69 in 6.2 overs for the sixth wicket. The pair was also helped by some errors in the field – both Rana and Rinku were dropped once each and later Shardul Thakur was dropped twice.
With 70 needed off 23 balls, Rana got two full throws in a row from T Natarajan. He hit the first for a six, but eventually hit the second to sweeper cover, where Washington Sundar held onto the opportunity.
Rinku skipped three fours off Natarajan in the 19th to cut the equation down to 32 needed on six, but as Rana herself said after the game, miracles don’t happen every game.
Hemant Brar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo