Dinesh Karthik
Image Courtesy: BCCI

It wasn’t an ideal finish for the Knight Riders at their home turf. Dinesh Karthik and his boys lost out to a strong Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise. An all-round show by Rashid Khan ensured a 13-run win for the visitors.

Wriddhiman Saha made a comeback into the side and scored a breezy 35 off 27 balls after SRH were asked to bat first.

Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL 2018
Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 13 runs at Eden Gardens. Image Courtesy: BCCI

His fellow opening partner, Shikar Dhawan also found himself among runs; scoring a 24-ball 34.

All-rounder Shakib Al Hasan added more spark to the cause, hitting four boundaries. The left-hand batsman made 28 runs, and Deepak Hooda chipped in with a run-a-ball 19.

IPL 2018: The Loss is Hard to Digest - Dinesh Karthik
Rashid Khan starred with both bat and ball against KKR. Image Courtesy: BCCI

But the main touch was added by Rashid Khan. The spinner slammed four sixes and a couple of fours and batted with a strike rate of 340. His 34 off ten balls took Hyderabad to 174/7 in their allotted 20 overs.

Chasing 175 to get to the finals, the KKR openers put on a 40-run stand for the first wicket. Chris Lynn scored 48 off 31 balls while Sunil Narine annoyed the Orange army with a timely 26 off 13 balls.

The hosts were going strong until they came across the Afghan spinner. Rashid bagged three wickets and conceded just 19 runs. He dismissed Lynn, Robin Uthappa and Andre Russel apart from being involved in catches and run-outs.

Nitish Rana
Nitish Rana and Dinesh Karthik affected a brilliant run-out off Carlos Brathwaite. Image Courtesy: BCCI

Karthik on the loss

Kartik, who had an impressive first season with the Knights said he is obviously gutted at the loss. He took it on himself and said he should have taken his team over the finishing line.

“It’s hard to digest; we played a good tournament. To finish on the losing side doesn’t feel good. We had the game at the 10-over mark, a couple of bad shots cost us. Me, Robin had to bat through, Lynn was good. Me not batting through was a mistake on my part.” Karthik said after his side crashed out of the 2018 edition of the IPL.

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