Kolkata were off to a flying start, which was also supported by sloppy work by Sunrisers Hyderabad fielders. The third ball of KKR's chase saw Robin Uthappa getting a lifeline as KL Rahul attempted a catch in the slips which was not his. Again, in the third over, Gautam Gambhir was spilled by Praveen Kumar at deep fine leg.Both Uthappa and Gambhir tried making most of the reprieves by going for their big strokes. While the right-handed Uthappa got runs, Sunrisers were lucky to see the back of Gambhir when Praveen removed him for four off eight balls on the fourth ball of the fourth over.
But this was after Uthappa had already hit the right-arm seamer for a boundary and a six on the first two deliveries of the over. The initial stages of the innings saw Uthappa doing the bulk of the scoring, but Manish Pandey too chipped in.
Pandey warmed up with a massive six over midwicket of Moises Henriques, but one ball later, the bowler took the revenge as he got Uthappa caught at short third man to jolt the Knight Riders once again.
The dismissal of Uthappa did not deter the Kolkata Knight Riders as Pandey slammed two consecutive fours off Dale Steyn in the seventh over, and in the next over, Andre Russell chimed in with two back to back sixes. While one was a massive hit on to the big screen, the second was unbelievably flat as the ball travelled past the ropes.
Russell tried looking for big hits but Ravi Bopara had him caught at long on off the penultimate ball of the ninth over. Steyn finally had something to cheer about as he took a clean catch.
The wicket of Russell and the 10th over from Bhvneshwar Kumar — wherein Kolkata managed only five runs — perhaps dashed all hopes of their win as SRH bowlers since then were magnificent.
Related story
Chennai Super Kings beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by four runs
