Sunrisers Hyderabad v Kolkata Knight Riders: IPL 2015 – as it happened

And there it is. Not a particularly close one in the end, despite it technically going down to the last over. Some brilliant bowling by Kumars Praveen and Bhuvneshwar and of course Warner’s superb innings the key there. 11.6: Kolkata Knight Riders 101-4 (Yadav 2, Pandey 33) - Just a single out to deep mid-wicket. 11.5: Kolkata Knight Riders 100-4 (Yadav 1, Pandey 33) - 18 runs to win from 1 ball - A single down to long-on. 11.4: Kolkata Knight Riders 99-4 (Yadav 1, Pandey 32) - 19 runs to win from 2 balls - Four! Sliced just wide of point by Pandey. 11.3: Kolkata Knight Riders 95-4 (Yadav 1, Pandey 28) - 23 runs to win from 3 balls - Single for Yadav down to long-off. And that’s a tame end for Pathan, slapping the ball to cover where Sharma takes a simple catch. 11.1: Kolkata Knight Riders 94-3 (Pathan 6, Pandey 28) - 24 runs to win from 5 balls - Single from Pandey out to deep mid-wicket. We’ll go ball-by-ball now... 11th over: Kolkata Knight Riders 93-3 (Pathan 6, Pandey 27) - 25 runs to win from 6 balls Warner tries to continue the Kumar domination by bringing on Praveen, and Pandey comes down the pitch but can only get two (thanks to a misfield by Steyn), then the next ball he comes down the pitch and backs away, but Kumar follows him. Pandey for some reason decides the best way to deal with that is to let the ball nutmeg him, for which he obviously gets nothing. Another great yorker is squeezed away for one, then some rapid running wrings two runs from a long Pathan single out to deep square leg. A brilliant slower ball from Kumar is heaved at and missed, then Pathan clips the ball out to Dhawan in the deep, and they get two after the ball slips from the fielder’s grasp as he tries to throw in. 10th over: Kolkata Knight Riders 86-3 (Pathan 2, Pandey 24) - 32 runs to win from 12 balls Pandey gets a single, then Bhuvi Kumar beats Pathan outside off from his first ball. Next one is cuffed down the ground to long-off for a single, then Pandey only gets one from a shin-high full-toss, something that Pathan repeats from the over’s penultimate ball. The last one is a brilliant yorker that Pandey just squirts off an inside edge for a single, but that’s just five from a terrific over from Kumar. 9th over: Kolkata Knight Riders 81-3 (Pathan 0, Pandey 21) - 37 runs to win from 18 balls Yusuf Pathan is the new bat, Pandey takes a single from the last ball of the over. Ravi Bops is into the attack, and Russell dabs a single to short third man, which Pandey copies, only that one is misfielded and Russell is nearly run-out, thinking about a second run. A lovely yorker from Bopples is followed by a shorter one, which Russell flays for a one-bounce for through mid-wicket. He then tries to clear the stadium again but can only pick out Steyn at long-on, who gathers a comfortable catch. Russell suspiciously inspects the toe-end of his bat as he walks off. 8th over: Kolkata Knight Riders 74-2 (Russell 14, Pandey 19) - 44 runs to win from 24 balls Bipul Sharma gets a go with his left-arm spin. A single from the second ball brings Russell on strike, then he quite literally hits the roof of the stadium with a mother of a slog-sweep, and follows it up with another six that in some ways was more remarkable, given that he didn’t really get hold of it and it still cleared the boundary while not reaching a height of more than about 15 feet. Strong hitting. 7th over: Kolkata Knight Riders 60-2 (Russell 1, Pandey 18) - 58 runs to win from 30 balls Steyn is back into the attack for his final over, and two singles are taken from the first two balls of the over. Pandey backs away from one and tries a cut, but the pace and bounce was too much and he got nowhere near it. He gets plenty on the next one though, slightly straighter and it’s pulled in front of mid-wicket for four. Another boundary comes from a delightful carve from a widish yorker attempt, that goes to the third man ropes. One more single from a decent over - certainly more than they would’ve expected from a Steyn over. 6th over: Kolkata Knight Riders 49-2 (Russell 0, Pandey 8) - 69 runs to win from 36 balls Andre Russell is the new batsman, and he wafts at the last ball of the over, getting nowhere near it. Moises Henriques has the ball now, and he starts with a big offside wide. Uthappa gets a big slap on the next ball but it one-bounces straight to deep mid-wicket, and that’s just a single. Pandey then tees off, absolutely murdering a pull that made a delicious noise and sailed high into the crowd between mid-wicket and long-on. Pandey takes a single, then Uthappa departs rather softly, stepping across his stumps and flicking one fine off his pads, but straight to the fielder at short fine-leg. He’s displeased with himself. 5th over: Kolkata Knight Riders 40-1 (Uthappa 33, Pandey 1) Karn Sharma will have a bowl now, and Uthappa gets a couple with a neat flick off his toes and some smart running, then cuffs a single down the ground that goes for one, and to long-on. Pandey gets going with a push off his pads, then Uthappa cleans his partner out by thwacking a shot down the ground that hits Pandey on the knee and saves a few runs. Just one more single from a good over by Sharma. 4th over: Kolkata Knight Riders 35-1 (Uthappa 29, Pandey 0) Manish Pandey is the new batsman and is greeted by the first two decent balls Kumar has bowled, a couple of good yorkers that Pandey does well to keep out. Praveen Kumar is into the attack, and Uthappa repeats that flicked six over mid-wicket from the previous over, but this time it was way too high - in the words of the majestic Richie, it would’ve taken Joel Garner standing on Joel Garner’s shoulders to have a sniff of that one. Uthappa picks up four more from a wretched leg stump half-volley, and is saved another boundary off a full toss as Uthappa drives straight at the non-strikers’ end stumps. And then, such is the nature of sport, Kumar gets the breakthrough as Gambhir plays and ugly one across the line, only succeeding in inside-edging onto his stumps. 3rd over: Kolkata Knight Riders 24-0 (Uthappa 18, Gambhir 4) What a drop! Off Steyn again, as Gambhir slashes one hard over the slips and more or less straight to Praveen Kumar at third-man, but he fumbles the catch and they go through for one. And, the standard salt ground into the wound comes when Uthappa casually flicks one off leg stump over Karn Sharma at deep mid-wicket, who for some reason had come too far in and missed it, but probably would have caught it if he was on the ropes. A clip to short fine leg brings a single, then Gambhir ducks under a borderline bouncer that looked really quite leg side. 2nd over: Kolkata Knight Riders 16-0 (Uthappa 11, Gambhir 3) Bhuvi Kumar is the man from the other end, and Uthappa gets off strike with a pushed single down the ground. Gambhir has another slog but it’s not really happening for him in these early balls, and it squirts away for just one. Uthappa then collects the first boundary of the dig with a delightful clip off his legs, from a ball that was actually somewhere around off stump. Lovely shot, that. A legside wide and a fumble from Ojha behind the stumps donates two to the total, a stab down the ground by Uthappa, half-fielded by the bowler brings another, then Gambhir has another heave but yet again it goes straight to a fielder and just one run is scored. 1st over: Kolkata Knight Riders 5-0 (Uthappa 4, Gambhir 1) And a spicy start it is. Uthappa gets off the mark with two from a big leading edge that flies out towards third man, then Steyn induces an edge that looks like it’s going straight into Dhawan’s hands at first slip, but Rahul dives across and gets to the ball, but shells it, turfing the thing after two attempts, and to really rub it in they run a single. Gambhir gets another after a fierce slash outside off, a dab brings one more single to Uthappa and the over ends with Gambhir taking a huge wipe at one that he misses and it goes through to the keeper. Eeesh. And finally we’re away. Dale Steyn will bow to Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa. Should have a pretty spicy start - if there’s rain still in the air then presumably KKR will go for it from the off, as if they have 58 after five overs, that’ll be a game and they’ll win. Of course, that could all change... Play will start, in theory, at 15.00 BST. So there you go. Some involved discussions on the outfield involving umpire Richard Illingworth and what looks suspiciously like a Duckworth-Lewis sheet. The covers are now largely off the field, but still no word on revised playing conditions. The latest... Still no word from the game, by the way. Just that the rain seems to be holding off and of course we’ll definitely have a truncated game. Actually, it’s not that weird, just a strange quirk of cricket. In the final over Rahul hit it from a waist-high no-ball up in the air, and was caught, but while the ball was airborne Rahul and Henriques crossed, so a run was given at the time as well as the penalty run for the no-ball. Presumably the ball became dead as soon as it was caught, thus no extra run. While we wait, it seems the target has been revised to take account of that no-ball, weirdly... There’s going to be an inspection in about ten minutes, with the covers continuing to be removed. While we’re waiting, have a read of this Joy of Six about baseball manager tirades, inspired by Cincinnati Reds manager Bryan Price who dropped the f-bomb no fewer than 77 times in a rant against a local reporter who dared to correctly report on the absence of a player. Since I am fluent in asterisk I can confirm reports that they were indeed fucks, and that the sheer volume and speed in which they were uttered by Price is believed to be a southern Ohio record. So yes, the guy was in a bad mood, perturbed because the Cincinnati Enquirer writer (with a phenomenal Civil War-appropriate name) C Trent Rosecrans,reported that catcher Devin Mesoraco was not with the team after their 2-1 loss to the Cardinals on Sudnay, information the manager would’ve preferred to keep under wraps. The rain seems to have stopped now, and the super soppers are doing their thing atop the covers that are still on, with some others being peeled off the turf like a clammy waterproof off your arm after a summer downpour. Well this doesn’t sound especially promising... Oh. And there it is. More rain. The rain seems to have stopped, but the groundstaff don’t exactly appear to be overly rapid in their efforts to clear the ground. More moisture on the way, perhaps. Seems to be raining a bit harder, now. No real movement from the middle, but we can lose up to an hour before any actual game time goes in the bin, so sit tight for a bit. Ah, bit of bad news as it’s started raining between innings, and the covers are on. Doesn’t look especially heavy, but enough to delay the Knight Riders’ knock. Well, that’s a reasonable total, but they looked on for much more than that when Warner and Dhawan were going at it. The supporting cast didn’t do much at all, so it’s now over to Dale Steyn and Kumars Praveen and Bhuvneshwar to grab them a win. 20th over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 177-4 (Henriques 7, Rahul 1) KL Rahul is the new man, and second ball he gets a high full toss that he skies to the man in the deep, but the question of whether it was too high goes upstairs. And the answer to that question is yes - yes it was, so a no ball and Rahul survives. Henriques then throws everything at one just outside off, gets an edge and it flies just - just - past the keeper and to the boundary. Henriques then misses out on a knee-high full-toss and only a single, before Rahul leaves the last ball thinking it will be a wide, but no it will not. Yadav will bowl the final over, but it’s on a lovely length and Ojha bloots it high over long-on for six. And he bowls him with a lovely yorker next up, off stump going way back. There’s a long interlude when they check the no ball, and only a millimetre - perhaps not even that - of Yadav’s heel is behind the line. Boy that was close. Out though. 19th over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 164-3 (Ojha 12, Henriques 2) Moises Henriques is the new man, and struggles with the first two balls, missing one then grasping at a nasty short delivery, that flicks his shoulder through to the keeper, with some half-hearted appeals going up. He gets two from the last ball, so not all is lost, but that was a triffic over from Russell. Andre Russell gets his first bowl of the innings - slightly odd move in the penultimate over, but there you go. Dhawan shifts outside off and flips his first ball for four, going about where a widish leg-slip might have been, but he takes a big hoy at the next outside off and he misses by some way. Dhawan then goes with a vaguely curious jabbed shot from a full ball, that flies straight down the throat of Botha at long-on. 18th over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 158-2 (Ojha 12, Dhawan 50) Yadav has the ball, Dhawan gets a single then there’s a big shout for caught behind as Yadav slips down leg, it flicks Ojha’s pad and goes through to the keeper. No dice on the wicket, obviously. A slower ball then baffles Ojha, just missing leg stump after a groping shot, but then he gets six with an extraordinary shot off his thigh, a sort of short-arm jab of an abbreviated pull. Don’t quite know what to make of that, other than to say it was six valuable runs. A couple of singles closes the over, the latter of which gives Dhawan his 50. 17th over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 149-2 (Ojha 5, Dhawan 48) Naman Ojha is the new batsman, and he gets started with a quick single, then Morkel just about gets away with a very short ball that Dhawan can’t reach despite a big flail and a little jump. Dhawan then moves outside off stump and looks like he wanted to try a little ramp shot, but Morkel spots his cunning scheme and goes for the yorker, which Dhawan still manages to open the face and nudge to third man for a single. Ojha isn’t hanging about though, smearing the last ball of the over through the covers for four. Well, that was a rather limp end to a brief innings. Morkel comes back, and Bopara times the pants off a drive, but alas it goes straight to Botha at short cover. 16th over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 143-1 (Bopara 2, Dhawan 47) Narine continues, and Dhawan sweeps fine, Botha does well to stop on the fine leg boundary, but he can only save a single run. Bopara dabs a single, before Dhawan flicks a couple to the on side then closes the over with a delicate reverse sweep, that Morkel dives over and it goes to the boundary. 15th over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 133-1 (Bopara 1, Dhawan 38) Ravi Bops is the new man, and he’s on strike after Dhawan slaps a single to the off side. He gets on top of a rising ball from Morkel, getting off the mark with a guide to where about fifth slip would’ve been. Dhawan stabs a single backward of point to finish the over. Morkel is back into the attack, he bowls a full ball just wide of off stump but heavens to Betsy Warner just sort of sticks his bat out and slices it over gully for a one-bounce for. However, he finally goes from the next ball, skying a pull straight over his head that Robin Uthappa ambles round to pouch. 14th over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 126-0 (Warner 87, Dhawan 36) Here’s Narine again, and Warner tries to belt another switch-hit but only succeeds in nearly dragging the thing onto his stumps. The next one, a conventional slog-sweep, is rather more successful - by which I mean it disappeared somewhere into the crowd. Big, big six. Three more singles complete another healthy over for the Sunrisers, and another sponsorless towel break. ‘Towels: brought to you by Krispy Kreme.’ What do you reckon? They really do need to up their sponsorship game, here. 13th over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 117-0 (Warner 80, Dhawan 35) Botha’s back, which actually sounds more intimidating than a decent off-spinner returning to the bowling attack actually is. Still, he gets a dot first up, so that’s good. Dhawan nudges a single then Warner whips one off his toes for a couple. Next up Warner backs away, Botha follows him but still gives him a full toss which the opener thrikes down the ground, over Morkel who misjudged it pretty badly, running in when running around the boundary would have given him more of a chance. It seemed to hit the rope, meaning six, but for some reason they gave four. Warner gets one more with an underedge through the keeper. 12th over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 109-0 (Warner 73, Dhawan 34) Piyush Chawla gets a bowl, which is nice for him. And nice for the batsmen too, as Dhawan grabs a single, allowing Warner to launch another switch hit over third man for a one-bounce four. 100 up with a single down the ground, before Dhawan bloots a massive slog sweep over the mid-wicket fence. For six, obviously. He tries a reverse sweep, getting a wee feather on it past the keeper - technically a chance, but a flipping difficult one - for two, before getting a single with a quiet straight push. 11th over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 94-0 (Warner 68, Dhawan 24) Narine is given the ball, but his first effort is short and wide - so short and wide that Warner has to stretch for it, and thus only gets two. The next one is shoved down to long-off, but a combination of some iffy fielding and excellent running turns a likely one into a fairly comfortable two. Warner then gets stuck into another shortish ball, not timing it perfectly but still managing to hoy the thing over long-on for his third six. They then close the over with two twos, both from cuts to deep point. 10th over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 80-0 (Warner 54, Dhawan 24) Warner comes down the track but telegraphs it a bit, so Yadav pushes it full and wide, thus inducing an almighty swing and miss. The next one is a long-hop, but after Warner pulls meatily, Pandey sprints around on the mid-wicket fence to make a great stop and save two runs. Nobody’s stopping the next one though, as Yadav again drops short but this time gives Warner room to free his hands and launch one high over third man for six, which brings up his 50. A better ball keeps the next score to a single, but Yadav completes a turd of an over by offering Dhawan a buffet ball on his pads, which he airily flicks over square leg and to the ropes for four. Big over, 13 from it. 9th over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 67-0 (Warner 45, Dhawan 20) Good batting this by the Sunrisers. The run rate is decent, but they haven’t lost any wickets so they have a platform from which to really tee off soon. Which Warner starts from the first ball of Pathan’s over, effortlessly launching one to the straight boundary for the first six of the innings. The remaining five balls of the over are all much flatter, and they’re all pushed to assorted parts of the ground for singles. And now there’s a time out. That’s sponsored by someone or other - clever, they won’t make the dreadful towel mistake twice, eh? 8th over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 56-0 (Warner 36, Dhawan 18) Warner seems to want another towel break and glove change, but the umpires appear to have put their foot down. Possibly buying time to sort a sponsor. Unconfirmed, that. Umesh Yadav has been thrown the ball, and Dhawan jabs a back-of-a-length ball for a single, Warner returning the favour and there’s a brief interlude to see some footage of some young men wrestling on a beach. Warner tucks one into the leg side, and some smart running gets them two, then a single to finish the over. 7th over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 50-0 (Warner 32, Dhawan 16) Another bowling change, and it’s another spinner as Yusuf Pathan has the ball. His first ball is an absolute rotter, short to Dhawan but he pulls it straight to the man on the wide mid-wicket fence, on the bounce and they just get the one. No such luck with a short ball to Warner, the Aussie slapping the ball straight through the man in the covers and to the ropes. Another short one only collects a single, cut out to the cover-point boundary fielder, before Dhawan brings up the 50 with a neat push to the same man. 6th over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 43-0 (Warner 27, Dhawan 14) Looks pretty hot out there, and the batsmen take their second towel break of the innings. Those towel breaks don’t appear to be sponsored - the IPL big nobs have missed a trick, there. Botha’s got the ball back, and Dhawan gambols through for a quick single, but Warner can’t pierce the infield with the next couple, so switches round and performs a sort of reverse/switch-hit pull, over what subsequently became square leg and to the ropes. A standard pull next up only brings him one, before Dhawan takes his own single, just giving them time for another towel break. Seriously - big chance missed for the money men here... 5th over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 36-0 (Warner 22, Dhawan 12) Sunil Narine is into the attack, and immediately befuddles Warner with a full ball that the Australian had absolutely no idea about, and in fact it turned way too much to catch the edge. Singles are exchanged, one from a leg-bye, before Narine drops one way too short and Warner gratefully gobbles it up, pulling in front of mid-wicket for four. 4th over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 30-0 (Warner 18, Dhawan 11) Morkel is in again, and Dhawan plays his first properly convincing shot of the innings, opening the face a wee bit and flashing one past point to the third man fence. Gambhir then strengthens that region so he now basically has two points and a gully, as well as third man. Morkel manages to eke out two dots, before Dhawan scampers through for a rapid single after a push to the covers. Warner then backs away and bloody welts it for the flattest nearly-six you’ve ever seen - genuinely didn’t get more than about ten feet off the ground, and bounced about an inch before the rope/stupid foam thingy. There’s a rather more prosaic single to close out the over. 3rd over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 20-0 (Warner 13, Dhawan 6) Oy vey, a shoddy throw from Gambhir at gully donates a run to Dhawan, then Warner shimmies down the track, steps to leg and launches Botha over the covers for four. Another one is tucked to square leg, before Dhawan pushes one more just in front of that, and Warner responds with a single further still in front of that. Dhawan ends the over with one shovelled out to the man on the long off fence. 2nd over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 11-0 (Warner 7, Dhawan 3) Big Morne Morkel is the man from the other end, and he tucks Warner up a bit first up, but he still gets the ball into the leg side, where Andre Russell is there to keep them to one. Dhawan picks up another single off the inside edge, before Warner collects the first boundary with a nice flick off his hip - going a long way back, nearly treading on his stumps - in front of fine leg. The batsmen exchange singles and that’s a better over for Sunrisers. 1st over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 3-0 (Warner 1, Dhawan 1) Botha starts with two down leg, the first hitting Dhawan’s pads so he gets away with it, the second way down so he doesn’t. Dhawan nudges a single to get the first run off the bat, then Warner tries to force one through the covers but a short-stop-esque piece of fielding by Manish Paney keeps him where he is. Warner picks up a single to mid-wicket, but that’s all for the over and that was an excellent over, bar the first two balls, from Johan Botha. Johan Botha looks like he’ll bowl first. A spinner! Opening the bowling! What’ll they think of next? The players are on their way out. Davey Dave Warner and Shikhar Dhawan will open up for the Sunrisers, a name neatly displayed in their Solero-esque shirt. The song Sky are using to lead into the adverts of their IPL coverage sounds a bit like Tusk by Fleetwood Mac. So here’s the original... So the Sunrisers juggle their pack (....) by leaving Trent Boult out, and bringing Moises Henriques in for the struggling Eoin Morgan. KKR have Johan Botha in their side, with Ryan ten Doeschate missing out. Sunrisers Hyderabad Warner, Dhawan, Rahul, Ojha, Bopara, Henriques, Karn Sharma, Bipul Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Steyn Kolkata Knight Riders Uthappa, Gambhir, Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Pathan, Russell, Botha, Chawla, Narine, Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav. There’s a whole bunch of rigamarole around the toss, as you might expect from all this stuff, but the Sunrisers skipper Dave Warner calls heads but loses, so KKR’s Gautam Gambhir elects to bowl. In theory the IPL, and Twenty20 cricket in general, is supposed to be fast. Quick. Exciting. Whizz-bangs, dancing girls, big stars, grab your attention never to let go. The long pauses and breaks so frustrating in the longer forms of the game are designed to be cut out, leaving just the raw entertainment to beguile and bewitch you. Wheat, most certainly sorted from chaff. It was strange then, in yesterday’s game between Kings XI Punjab and the Rajasthan Royals, to see the Super Over at the end last about 30 minutes, as various people chatted and discussed and generally pricked around waiting for everyone to sort themselves out. Of course, once it eventually got underway it was very exciting and featured probably the worst lbw decision you’re likely to see this year, a ball hitting Shaun Marsh clean on the foot, right in front of middle, only for the umpire to say no sir. Not out. Anyway, such are the complications and contradictions of Twenty20, cricket and indeed sport. Theoretically this should be a similarly close belter, with Sunrisers Hyderabad boasting a collection of overseas stars to make the rest of the tournament green with envy, the one complication being that they’ve so many - Trent Boult, David Warner, Kane Williamson, Dale Steyn, and let us not forget Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara - that they’ve struggled to fit them all in with the four foreigners rule. As such, they’ve been reasonably desperate in the tournament so far, losing three of their four games, with opponents today the Kolkata Knight Riders having a record exactly the opposite. Team game, innit. We shall see how this one pans out, and indeed which of their overseas types the Sunrisers squeeze in, shortly. Should be good. First ball: 11.30 BST