VISAKHAPATNAM, April 22 (PTI): Skipper David Warner led from the front with a blistering 91 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated defending champions Kolkata knight Riders by 16 runs via Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-truncated match of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament, here today.
Courtesy Warner�s 55-ball knock, Sunrisers scored a decent 176 for four in 20 overs but due to an hour long rain delay, the revised target for KKR turned out to be 118 from 12 overs. The Shah Rukh Khan co-owned franchise could only manage 101 for four in 12 overs.
Credit should be given to the �Two Kumars from Meerut� � Praveen (1/18 from 2 overs) and Bhuvneshwar (1/24), who gave away just 5 and 7 runs respectively in the 10th and 11th over as KKR were left to score 25 off the last over.
Bhuvneshwar again bowled a decent last over giving away 8 runs as Warner and company logged home two more points by virtue of their second win from five games.
KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir couldn�t repeat his performance of the previous game as he was dismissed while trying to whack a Praveen Kumar delivery over mid-wicket.
Robin Uthappa hit a few audacious shots en route his 21-ball-34 before flicking one from Moises Henriques to Praveen, who was placed at short fine leg.
Andre Russell (19 from 10 balls) again showed his big hitting prowess with a couple of huge sixes with one off left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma that went into the top tier.
However he was gone trying another big hit off Ravi Bopara being caught by Dale Steyn at long-off boundary.
Once Russell was gone, it was left to Manish Pandey (33 not out) and Yusuf Pathan (6). Much depended on Pathan, who since long time has not won a match singlehandedly for his franchise with only a few second fiddles to show. He again failed to provide the winning push.
Warner�s knock that became the decisive one had nine boundaries and four sixes and it also helped Sunrisers reach a respectable target. Warner�s dismissal put brakes on their scoring rate.
While Warner added 130 runs for the opening stand with Shikhar Dhawan (54, 46 balls), the last five overs of the Sunrisers innings yielded only 43 runs.
SCORECARD
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Shikhar Dhawan c Botha b Russell 54, David Warner c Uthappa b Morkel 91, Ravi Bopara c Botha b Morkel 2, Naman Ojha b Umesh Yadav 18, Moises Henriques not out 7, Lokesh Rahul not out 0. Extras: (b 1, lb 1, w 1, nb 1) 4. Total: (4 wickets; 20 overs) 176. Fall of wickets: 1-130, 2-143, 3-162, 4-170. Bowling: Johan Botha 4-0-26-0, Morne Morkel 4-0-31-2,Sunil Narine 4-0-38-0,Yusuf Pathan 2-0-18-0, Umesh Yadav 4-0-40-1,Piyyush Chawla 1-0-15-0, Andre Russell 1-0-6-1.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Robin Uthappa c P Kumar b Henriques 34, Gautam Gambhir b P Kumar 4, Manish Pandey not out 33, Andre Russell c Steyn b Bopara 19, Yusuf Pathan c Sharma b B Kumar 6, Suryakumar Yadav not out 2. Extras: (w 3) 3. Total: (4 wickets; 12 overs) 101. Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-49, 3-80, 4-94. Bowling: Dale Steyn 3-0-24-0, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3-0-24-1, Praveen Kumar 2-0-18-1, Karn Sharma 1-0-5-0, Moises Henriques 1-0-9-1, Bipul Sharma 1-0-14-0, Ravi Bopara 1-0-7-1.
