There was threat of rain. The only rain was the runs from the bat of Sunrisers Hyderbad openers David Warner and Jonny Baristow, who scripted their fourth century partnership in nine games (besides seven 50-plus stands) in Vivo IPL-12.
The two came played some scintillating strokes to make it a no-contest against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Sunday.
It was expected to be a tricky chase, but Warner and Bairstow banished both the pacers and spinners with ease as the 100 came off just 52 balls.
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Lucky Bairstow
The two batted as if they were scheduled to catch a late evening flight though Bairstow was lucky — dropped thrice (on 1, 55 and 58) with left-arm pacer Prithvi Raj being unlucky twice.
Warner was eventually bowled by Prithvi Raj but the Australian’s brilliance had ensured that the rest of the chase was a mere formality.
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When Bairstow swung leg-spinner Piyush Chawla for two consecutive sixes in the 15th over it was the perfect finish to Sunrisers’ convincing nine-wicket win.
Brilliant start
Earlier, asked to bat, KKR was off to a brilliant start with Chris Lynn and southpaw Sunil Narine launching into some audacious strokes, scoring 42 off just 16 balls.
Narine treated left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed and spinner Shahbaz Nadeem with disdain as the West Indian hammered 25 off eight balls with three fours and two sixes.
Much to the delight of his teammates, Khaleel dismissed Narine and Shubman Gill in quick succession to put the brakes on the scoring.
Soon Bhuvneshwar Kumar produced a beauty — pitching one up and moving it away with extra bounce to force in-form Nitish Rana to snick to wicketkeeper Bairstow.
Superb fielding effort
Later, a superb fielding effort from Vijay Shankar at mid-wicket saw the usually quick KKR captain Dinesh Karthik stranded — going for a second run after flicking Nadeem.
A 51-run stand for the fifth wicket between Lynn, who scored his ninth IPL fifty, and Rinku Singh, brought hopes of a reasonable total. But, Lynn perished to a brilliant running catch by Kane Williamson at covers off Khaleel in the17th over.
A huge roar greeted the big-hitting Andre Russell but the show was on, albeit, briefly as after slamming two sixes off Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the 19th over he was out going for another in the same over.
It was a superb, disciplined bowling effort by Sunrisers in the last 10 overs which helped it come back strongly.
Scoreboard
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS: Chris Lynn c Williamson b Khaleel 51 (47b, 4x4, 1x6), Sunil Narine b Khaleel 25 (8b, 3x4, 2x6), Shubman Gill c Vijay Shankar b Khaleel 3 (4b), Nitish Rana c Bairstow b Bhuvneshwar 11 (11b, 1x4), Dinesh Karthik run out 6 (4b, 1x4), Rinku Singh c Rashid b Sandeep 30 (25b, 1x4, 2x6), Andre Russell c Rashid b Bhuvneshwar 15 (9b, 2x6), Piyush Chawla c Bairstow b Rashid 4 (8b, 1x4), Y. Prithvi Raj (not out) 0 (1b), K.C. Cariappa (not out) 9 (3b, 1x6); Extras (lb-1, w-4): 5.
Total (for eight wkts. in 20 overs): 159.
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-42 (Narine, 2.4 overs), 2-50 (Gill, 4.2), 3-65 (Rana, 7.1), 4-73 (Karthik, 8.2), 5-124 (Rinku, 15.3), 6-133 (Lynn, 16.6), 7-146 (Russell, 18.5), 8-150 (Chawla, 19.3).
SUNRISERS BOWLING: Bhuvneshwar 4-0-35-2, Nadeem 4-0-30-0, Khaleel 4-0-33-3, Sandeep 4-0-37-1, Rashid 4-0-23-1.
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD: David Warner b Prithviraj 67 (38b, 3x4, 5x6), Jonny Bairstow (not out) 80 (43b, 7x4, 4x6), Kane Williamson (not out) 8 (9b); Extras (b-1, lb-1, w-4): 6.
Total (for one wkt. in 15 overs): 161.
FALL OF WICKET: 1-131 (Warner, 12.2).
KNIGHT RIDERS BOWLING: Gurney 2-0-16-0, Prithviraj 3-0-29-1, Chawla 3-0-38-0, Narine 4-0-34-0, Cariappa 2-0-34-0, Russell 1-0-8-0.
Toss: Sunrisers.
Man-of-the-Match: Khaleel Ahmed.
Sunrisers won by nine wickets with 30 deliveries remaining.