Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir

IPL: Kolkata Knight Riders eliminate defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad


Kolkata Knight Riders will play Mumbai Indians for a place in the IPL final after beating defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets in the eliminator.

Match stats


Kolkata Knight Riders win by 7 wickets (D/L Method) 

Sunrisers Hyderabad inns: 128-7 (20/20 overs. Warner 37, Williamson 24. Coulter-Nile 3-20)

Kolkata Knight Riders inns: 48-3 (5.2/6 overs. Gambhir 32*)

Match report


Kolkata Knight Riders will play Mumbai Indians for a place in the IPL final after beating defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets (DL) in the eliminator.

A superb bowling effort from KKR restricted the Sunrisers to just 128-7 but heavy rain delayed their chase by more than three hours.

They were eventually set 48 to win from six overs and made light work of it; captain Gautam Gambhir (32no from 19 balls) seeing them over the line with four balls remaining.

The Sunrisers failed to build up a head of steam at any time during their 20 overs, David Warner top-scoring with 37 from 35 balls before he was bowled by Piyush Chawla.

Nathan Coulter-Nile (3-20), on his return to the side following a head injury, was the pick of the KKR bowlers as he picked up three wickets, including the key scalp of Kane Williamson (24).

Wickets were falling at regular intervals and, by the end of the innings, so too was the rain. Trent Boult dismissed Naman Ohja from the final ball of the 20th over but that was the last action for more than three hours.

Eventually, the rain persisted and Kolkata began their reduced run chase shortly before 1am local time.

Chris Lynn hit his first ball for six but was then caught behind before Yusuf Pathan was run out from the next ball to leave 7-2 after just four balls.

That became 12-3 in the second as Chris Jordan (1-9) had Robin Uthappa caught in the deep but, with such a small target to chase, KKR remained clear favourites.

Gambhir all but assured victory in the fourth over as he slashed the ball to the third man boundary for four before hitting the next delivery over fine leg for a maximum.

From there Gambhir and Ishank Jaggi (5no) were able to work the singles and complete a comfortable victory.

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