FIERY HALF-CENTURIES BY TRIPATHI, MARKRAM GUIDE SRH TO 7-WICKET VICTORY OVER KKR

Brilliant half-centuries by Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markram helped SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) with a comfortable seven-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in their IPL 2022 match at the Brabourne Stadium here on Friday.

Chasing 176, SRH had a pathetic start as the opening batter Abhishek Sharma was bowled out by Pat Cummins with just 3 runs on the board in two overs. Tripathi joined skipper Kane Williamson on the crease to steady the innings. KKR got another breakthrough when Andre Russell dismissed Williamson for 17 runs, with the team’s total at 39/2 in the sixth over. But the skipper’s departure did not affect Tripathi’s intentions as he had other plans in his mind.

The 31-year old batter was joined by Markram and the duo started thrashing the KKR bowlers to every corner of the ground. Tripathi scored his half-century in just 21 balls and provided SRH with great momentum.

On the other hand, Markram played a steady innings and the duo took SRH above the 100-run mark in just 11 overs. KKR finally took a sigh of relief when Russell dismissed Tripathi, who got caught by Venkatesh Iyer after scoring 71 runs off 37 balls.

Nicholas Pooran came to the crease with Markram and kept the scoreboard moving for SRH. The latter scored his half-century in 31 balls and smashed two sixes back-to-back and brought victory to his side with 13 balls to spare.

Earlier, Nitish Rana’s knock of 54 and an unbeaten 49 by Andre Russell helped Kolkata Knight Riders post 175/8 in the first innings. For SRH, T Natarajan bagged three wickets while Umran Malik scalped two wickets.

Brief score: Kolkata Knight Riders 175/8 (Nitish Rana 54, Andre Russell 49*; T Natarajan 3-37) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad 176/3 (Rahul Tripathi 71, Aiden Markram 68*; Andre Russell 2-20).