IPL 2020: Match 35: KKR finally wins a Super Over

Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad are occupying the middle of the table and hence the encounter between both of them had an added spice because a win would take SRH to the 4th position, pushing KKR to 5th whereas a win for KKR would consolidate their position in the top half and would create a gap with SRH. Under this context, the top teams met at Abu Dhabi for their return leg. Both the teams have a lot of youngsters in the team and it was expected to be a close encounter.

So how did it go?

Here are my 5 points highlights from the match.

1. Eoin Morgan

Morgan is a born leader and hence I was quite surprised that he was not wearing the captain’s hat when KKR started their campaign. He is the man who turned around England’s white-ball cricket. The entire domestic setup in the country has changed over the last 5 years and now England produces a lot of cricketers who are tailor-made for white-ball cricket. He of course is a world cup winning captain too. Ideally, he is best placed to come in at number 4 but yesterday he came in at number 5 with KKR in trouble. The scoreboard read 88/3 in the 13th over. Russell was out pretty quickly and KKR needed a push in the last 4 overs. With Dinesh Karthik in tow, Morgan made sure that KKR had something to bowl at. 160 seemed to be a par score on that ground and KKR finished at 163. We are yet to see the real Morgan in this year’s IPL though and I am very sure it’s just around the corner.

2. Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik is a very good finisher and he has won some incredibly tough chases for India especially in T20 cricket. But when it came to IPL he has been very inconsistent and one of the biggest trouble is that he is asked to play the grappler role in the middle overs. I don’t think his game suits that position of number 4. But as a captain, he tried to take extra responsibility and tried too hard and mostly failed. Yesterday he was sent down the order at number 6 which I think is his best position. He came in with the scoreboard reading 105/5 in 15 overs. Karthik was enterprising from the ball 1 and he finished with 29 off 14 balls which was the best strike rate among both the teams. It was his partnership with Eoin Morgan which helped KKR reach 163 which was a pretty competitive total.

3. David Warner

With Kane Williamson injured, David Warner did the smart thing of asking Kane to open so that he can swing his bat during the powerplay. Pushing himself down to number 4 was good for Sunrisers Hyderabad because they have an inexperienced middle-order and Warner at 4 followed by Manish Pandey was a good option to have especially with a tricky chase in hand. SRH started very well going at almost 10 runs per over in the power play without losing any wicket. 58/0 suddenly became 70/3 in the space of 3 overs and SRH started feeling the heat. But Warner’s presence ensured that they were always in the hunt. He scored 47 off 33 balls with wickets falling around him and ensured that SRH didn’t go down without a fight.

4. Lockie Ferguson

With Pat Cummins spearheading the KKR bowling attack it was not possible to get Lockie Ferguson in the mix. Ferguson of course didn’t have a great IPL last season and was eventually dropped from the playing 11. But his international performance was great. In the last year’s world cup he picked up 23 wickets to finish as the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament. Yesterday KKR decided to bolster their bowling attack by picking him in the playing 11. He made an instant impact and took the wicket of Kane Williamson to break a dangerous opening stand. His figures of 3/15 in 4 overs made many people wonder why was he not selected in the team so far. He was constantly hitting the right length and his yorkers were directed on the stumps with great results. That Morgan didn’t keep his final over for the end was something that was beyond understanding. If bowling was not enough he played a crucial role in sending Abdul Samad on his way with a superlative effort at the boundary line. Those 6 runs saved made a huge difference in the final equation. For KKR he was not done yet because he had a magical role to play in the super over.

5. KKR and Super Overs

With 18 runs to defend, a half-fit Andre Russell came to bowl the final over. He kept spraying the ball and Warner kept finding the gaps. It was almost all over as the equation read 2 runs off 1 ball but Andre Russell kept his best delivery for the final ball and Warner could get only one run to make it a tie. Super Overs have never been kind to KKR. They have played 3 Super Overs in earlier editions and lost them all. This time the ball was in Lockie Ferguson’s hand and he picked up the wicket of Warner in the very first delivery and a couple of balls later another perfect yorker took the wicket of Abdul Samad. 

SRH scored just 2 runs in their super over and KKR had a golden opportunity to break their jinx of super overs by getting to the winning runs without breaking a sweat.

What a great match on a Super Sunday at the IPL. This was the third super over this season and that’s the maximum ever in one season. It has been a highly competitive season so far and the Dil Maange More!

KKR consolidates its position in the top 4 with this win whereas SRH remains in the bottom half.

Should Andre Russell be replaced with Tom Banton? Should Lockie Ferguson be a regular in the playing XI going forward?

What do you think?

Appreciate your views.

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