KKR win epic battle vs SRH

Kolkata, March 23

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Harshit Rana’s resilience in the final over and Andre Russell’s muscling fifty helped Kolkata Knight Riders survive Heinrich Klaasen’s six-hitting spree and score a thrilling four-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL match here today.

It’s Pandya vs Gill and GT days

Ahmedabad: Hardik Pandya will aim to build on the rich legacy of his predecessor Rohit Sharma when he begins his Mumbai Indians captaincy stint with a match against Gujarat Titans, a team that the star all-rounder himself marshalled over last two seasons, in the IPL here tomorrow.

Such are the professional ways of the IPL that Pandya, having led GT to the title and runners-up finish in the previous two seasons, has gone to back to MI where he made a name for himself.

The tournament also marks Pandya’s comeback from a freak ankle injury he picked up in the middle of the ODI World Cup in October. The form of the injury-prone all-rounder with both bat and ball will be closely tracked in the tournament that precedes the T20 World Cup in the USA and Caribbean.

With Pandya moving on to the other side, Gt will be led by Shubman Gill, who assumes the responsibility with very little captaincy experience. PTI

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Chennai to host IPL final?

new delhi: The IPL final will be held at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai tentatively on May 26, the BCCI sources revealed. It has been learnt that Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will hold one Qualifier and one Eliminator while another Qualifier will be held in Chennai. PTI

Klaasen almost turned the match on its head with a 29-ball 63, studded with eight sixes, as SRH were in hot pursuit of KKR’s imposing 208/7 — thanks to Russell’s 64 off 25 balls and Phil Salt’s 54 off 40 — but could only make 204/7.

The South African took IPL’s costliest buy Mitchell Starc to the cleaners, smashing him for three sixes, while Bengal’s Shahbaz Ahmed ended the Aussie left-arm pacer’s over with another six.

That 26-run over meant Starc, who joined KKR for a record Rs 24.75 crore, finished with woeful figures of 4-0-53-0.

Needing 13 off the last over, KKR gambled with rookie pacer Rana as he was hammered for seven runs off the first two balls.

But he dismissed Shahbaz and then Klaasen off his penultimate delivery, which came through a superb backward diving catch by Suyash Sharma, to give the local side a fantastic win.

Brief scores: KKR: 208/7 in 20 overs (Russell 64*, Salt 54; Natarajan 3/32); SRH: 204/7 in 20 overs (Klaasen 63, Agarwal 32; Rana 3/33, Russell 2/25).