Hyderabad falter in Kolkata

Kolkata City, Riding on Robin Uthappa’s gritty half-century and spinners’ contribution, Kolkata Knight Riders secured a 17-run win over defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad and climbed to the top of the table here today. Defending 173 on a lively Eden track, KKR’s spin trio of Kuldeep Yadav (1/23), Sunil Narine (1/18) and Yusuf Pathan (1/2) gave vital breakthroughs to dent the chase of Sunrisers and hand their team a second successive win at home.
For the Sunrisers, who began their campaign with back-to-back victories at home, this was their second defeat on the trot. David Warner (26) and Shikhar Dhawan (23) gave Sunrisers a flying start by gathering 45 runs from six overs but part-time spinner Pathan broke the dangerous partnership by removing the Indian left-hander. Chinaman bowler Kuldeep and Narine then slipped in 22 dot balls in the middle overs to put brakes on the run rate.
India’s 2011 World Cup hero Yuvraj Singh provided some thrust to Sunrisers’ chase, hammering two sixes and two fours en route his 16-ball 26. But Chris Woakes (2/49) dismissed him as substitute Rishi Dhawan took a brilliant running catch at long-on. Sunrisers needed 30 runs in the last over but Trent Boult (1/33) conceded just 12 to ensure a comfortable win for KKR.
Earlier, Robin Uthappa struck a gritty 68 from 39 balls to help KKR recover from a jittery start and post 172/6. The two-time champions had their worst start of the season, managing just 40 runs for the loss of two wickets in the first six overs. However, Sunrisers failed to make further in-roads in the middle overs with the Karnataka duo of Uthappa and Manish Pandey putting on a solid 77-run partnership off 52 balls. Uthappa struck four sixes and five boundaries while Pandey rotated the strikes cleverly as Kolkata reached 100 in 12.4 overs. After Uthappa departed, Pandey (46) looked to break free but Bhuvneshwar denied him a second successive fifty.