Chris Lynn and Robin Uthappa scored when it mattered most to guide Kolkata Knight Riders to a five-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad and also into the playoffs with 16 points in the Vivo IPL at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Saturday night.
In what was the last league match for both teams, it was another disappointing performance — this time at home — by the once formidable Sunrisers bowling attack with the exception of leggie Rashid Khan.
Lynn, who cracked a brilliant half-century, and Uthappa put on a 57-ball 67 for the second wicket which saw KKR post 100 for one in 10.5 overs.
This was after a belligerent opening stand of 52 from 3.4 overs with the flamboyant Sunil Narine.
It took a great effort by Manish Pandey at wide long-on, running to his right to complete a catch, to end Lynn’s superb innings.
Captain Dinesh Karthik then put his stamp of class with a well-paced knock to ensure the script didn’t go awry for his team in a must-win game.
Earlier, Sunrisers, opting to bat, had to settle for a far less challenging score after a good start with left-handed openers Shikhar Dhawan, who scored his fourth fifty of this edition, and Shreevats Goswami putting on 79 in 8.4 overs.
Goswami, who was declared out caught off Andre Russell by umpire Anil Chaudhary only to reverse the decision after a referral as the ball apparently bounced off the helmet, was equal to the challenge of opening in place of Alex Hales.
Especially considering that KKR captain Dinesh Karthik employed five different bowlers in the first five overs.
When Goswami lofted chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav straight to the long-on fielder, the stage was set for captain Kane Williamson. And the Kiwi didn’t disappoint the biggest crowd (34,734) of this season as he started off with an exquisite pull off Kuldeep to the fence and then smashed pacer Javon Searles for two huge sixes over fine-leg.
Just, when he looked set for another big score, Williamson slashed Searles straight to the fielder in the deep in the same over. With his dismissal there was a shift in momentum as the KKR bowlers got back their confidence.
Dhawan, who was looking good, failed to capitalise on a dropped chance (on 45) by Sunil Narine, who floored a skier off Searles. He was eventually trapped in front on the shuffle by pacer Prasidh Krishna.
It was a spirited bowling display in the last five overs by Knight Riders, conceding just 31 runs and taking seven wickets — four of them in the final over with Prasidh picking three and the fourth a run-out.
