KKR, SRH
Lockie Ferguson [PhotoTwitter]

Kolkata Knight Riders [KKR] lost it; SunRisers Hyderabad [SRH] nearly won it before eventually, the game went to the Super Over, where Lockie Ferguson’s brilliance finally paved the way for SRH to come out victors in what was an enthralling game in Abu Dhabi.

Chasing 164, SunRisers Hyderabad made a change to their opening pair, with the inform Kane Williamson replacing David Warner at the top of the order.

And, the move worked brilliantly as the duo of Williamson (29 off 19 balls) and Bairstow went hammer and tongs against KKR’s bowling attack, smashing them for 57 runs in the first powerplay.

KKR desperately needed a wicket and they finally got that courtesy of Lockie Ferguson, who dismissed his Kiwi skipper on the very first delivery of his IPL 2020 campaign after the right-hander holes out at third-man thanks to a mistimed upper-cut.

SRH, KKR, Lockie Ferguson
Lockie Ferguson [Photo-Twitter]
SRH promoted Priyam Garg ahead of David Warner but the move didn’t work as Lockie Ferguson’s brilliant change of pace proved to be the undoing of Garg, who backed away far too early only to see his stumps rattled. Jonny Bairstow followed Garg to leave SunRisers in a real hole after he holed out to Varun Chakravarthy at long-off in the very next over.

SRH, KKR
Lockie Ferguson [Photo-Twitter]
Lockie Ferguson displayed what KKR had been missing thus far in the tournament as he claimed yet another wicket in his next over- this time courtesy a pacy yorker, one that Manish Pandey had no answer to.

Vijay Shankar once again struggled to come up with the goods with the bat and was dismissed by Pat Cummins, who claimed his first scalp after 7 games. David Warner scaled the 5000-run-mark when he scored his 13th run to become the first overseas batsmen to reach the milestone but the southpaw struggled for his timing throughout his knock.

Ferguson [3-15] came back to bowl the 18th over and he was once again right on the money as SRH could manage just seven runs. With 30 runs needed in the last 2 overs, Abdul Samad smashed a boundary on the very first ball before Warner finally connected one to get another boundary to reduce the equation to 21 off 9 balls.

Abdul Samad went for another big stroke on the last delivery but Lockie Ferguson took a brilliant rebound catch at the mid-wicket boundary to not only deny SRH a six but also cost them a wicket. Eventually, it all boiled down to 18 runs off the last six balls.

KKR, SRH
David Warner [Photo-Twitter]
Morgan went with Russell to bowl the final over. Russell, who was clearly struggling with his injury, started on a horrendous note as he overstepped to give SRH a free-hit. Rashid Khan, however, was unable to clear the boundary on the free-hit and could manage just single. Warner smashed three back-to-back boundaries off the to reduce the equation to 4 off 2. It eventually boiled down to 2 off the last delivery, and Warner could only manage just a single to enforce yet another Super-Over in the Dream11 IPL.

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What happened in the Super Over?

It was Lockie Ferguson’s day! And, the right-hander once again proved that to the hilt as he knocked over both David Warner and Abdul Samad with a clever change of pace to ensure that SRH managed just 2 runs in the Super-Over.

With 3 runs needed off the Super-Over, Dinesh Karthik and Eoin Morgan ensured that there were no further hiccups, safely taking their side home.

KKR posted 5-163 against SRH thanks to late-overs assault by Eoin Morgan and Dinesh Karthik

Batting first, Rahul Tripathi’s whirlwind 16-ball 23 and Nitish Rana’s brisk cameo of 29 off 20 balls, which included three fours and a six- helped KKR post 1-77 in the first 10 overs.

But none of Tripathi and Rana were able to cash-in on their starts. While Tripathi was dismissed by T Natarajan in the final over of the powerplay, Nitish Rana was removed by Vijay Shankar thanks to a brilliant diving catch by Priyam Garg.

SRH, KKR
Priyam Garg. (Credits: IPLT20.com)

Shubman Gill once again struggled to shift gears during his innings and he was eventually dismissed for an underwhelming 37-ball 36 by Rashid Khan.

KKR managed just 28 runs between 10-15 overs at the expense of dismissals of Rana, Gill, and Andre Russell, who was once again dismissed by a fast bowler in the Dream11 IPL, this time by T Natarajan.

SRH, KKR
Eoin Morgan and Dinesh Karthik [Photo-Twitter]
However, skipper Eoin Morgan (34 off 23 balls) and Dinesh Karthik (29* off 14 balls) ensured that KKR scored 58 runs in the last five to eventually post 5-163 in 20 overs.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

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