IPL 2018: Twitter Reacts As Kolkata Knight Riders Beat Sunrisers Hyderabad To Make It To The Playoffs

Kolkata Knight Riders put up a brilliant all round show to beat Sunrisers by 5 wickets and qualify for the playoffs.

Chasing 174, the Knight Riders were off to a blazing start. Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn came out all guns firing to put the Sunrisers on the backfoot.  By the end of the second over, the Knight Riders had raced away to 30. The two-time IPL champions breached the fifty run mark in 3.3 overs.

But on the very next ball, they lost Narine. However, the West Indies had done his job by then, smashing 29 off just 10. At the end of the powerplay, the scoreboard was reading 66 for 1. Robin Uthappa was struggling to find his groove but Lynn was going strong from the other end.

The Knight Riders entered the three-digit in the 11th over. Lynn also completed his fifty in the same over off 37 balls. Siddarth Kaul then gave the Sunrisers the much-needed breakthrough by sending back the dangerous Lynn for 55. His dismissal was followed by some quiet overs. The equation was finally down to 41 off last 5 overs. Karthik remained till the end to take the Knight Riders home in the last over.

Earlier in the game, the Knight Riders managed to overcame a poor start to restrict the hosts to 172 for 9 in the allotted 20 overs. Kane Williamson’s decision to bat first was justified by Shikhar Dhawan and Shreevats Goswami . The openers made a fine start, adding 79 runs for the first wicket to lay the foundation for a good total. Kuldeep Yadav broke the stand by accounting for Shreevats.

Williamson then fired on all cylinders to keep the Sunrisers on track for a big score. At 127 for 1 in the 13th over, the Sunrisers were looking set for a total around 200. However, the Knight Riders clawed their way back soon. Javon Searles broke the stand between Dhawan and Williamson by dismissing the latter. Williamson scored 36 off just 17.

From thereon, the Sunrisers lost wickets at regular intervals. As a result, their innings never got the impetus towards the end. They were eventually restricted to 172 for 9. Prasidh Krishna starred with the ball, taking 4 for 30.

Here is how Twitter reacted to the match:

Not many gave @KKRiders a top 4 chance post the auction. Well, they’ve made it as team number 3.. Haven’t depended on one or two heroes through this campaign.. They’ve played like a team ??#SRHvKKR

— Jatin Sapru (@jatinsapru) May 19, 2018

https://twitter.com/tomnjerrytwo/status/997890913820139520

Sunil Narine Currently has

333 T20 Wickets

111 IPL WIckets

— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) May 19, 2018

Sunil Narine in this IPL having more runs than
Mayank, Finch, Maxwell, Stokes, Karun, Mandeep, Tripathi, QDK, Russell, Nithish, Ishan, Rohit, Manish, Uthappa & Rahane

3 runs less than Raina

— Merin Kumar ™ (@merin_kumar) May 19, 2018

Sunil Narine best all rounder in the #IPL2018! !!! any doubt ?#SRHvKKR pic.twitter.com/2MtifqLQkw

— bumrah. (@fake_bumrah_) May 19, 2018

Should @SunRisers fans start to worry? Third loss in a row now for them as they head into the finals!! #SRHvKKR #VIVOIPL

— Lisa Sthalekar (@sthalekar93) May 19, 2018

Sunil Narine has scored more runs than Robin Uthappa this season! #IPL pic.twitter.com/kMFfe6ldi8

— Prasad Suroshe (@PrasadSachinist) May 19, 2018

https://twitter.com/iamsrktheking/status/996334178374316032

Bowler, Batsman, watch out, one of these days, Sunil Narine will start taking catches too.#SRHvKKR

— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) May 19, 2018

Superlative bowling performance by #KKR bowlers, specially Prasidh.. Hope we’ll chase the total.. Go KKR KKR KKR .. #SRHvKKR

— Sumit kadel (@SumitkadeI) May 19, 2018

As Sangakkara said, Pandey needs to be told to start quicker. His finishing under pressure will be needed in the playoffs.

— Nikhil ? (@CricCrazyNIKS) May 19, 2018

Kane Williamson in IPL:

First 15 games: 11 Sixes

Next 14 games: 26 Sixes

— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) May 19, 2018

Shreevats Goswami is batting really well. At least one Goswami is happy today. #SRHvKKR

— Sagar (@sagarcasm) May 19, 2018

Shikhar Dhawan becomes 5th player to score 500 runs against KKR in IPL…

— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) May 19, 2018