Surya knight was shining armour in KKR's victory
Suryakumar Yadav's crucial knock helped KKR register three wicket victory over Perth Scorchers (Photo: BBCI)
Hyderabad: Kolkata Knight Riders made heavy weather of a modest target before beating the Perth Scorchers by three wickets to maintain a clean slate in their Group ‘A’ campaign at the Oppo Champions League Twenty20 here on Wednesday night.Chasing the Australian side’s 151, they slipped to 37 for 3 and then 106 for 5 before a quickfire 32-run stand for the seventh wicket in 11 balls between Suryakumar Yadav (43 not out — 19 balls, 4x1, 6x4) and Andre Russell (4) turned the tide in their favour. Yadav left the Scorchers cold in the penultimate over by smashing Nathan Coulter-Nile for two sixes as KKR took 19 runs off it before Piyush Chawla hit the winning runs with two balls to spare.
Earlier, captain Adam Voges played a lone hand, stroking an unbeaten 71 as Perth Scorchers frittered away a decent start to put up an unimpressive total.Opening the innings, an adamant Voges held up one end, even as his partners kept changing frequently, to lend some respectability to the team total. The skipper smashed eight boundaries and a six in his 52-ball knock.
For Kolkata, Sunil Narine took four wickets while conceding 31 runs in his four overs. In fact, he picked up three wickets for just six runs off his last seven deliveries.Perth began well but finished poorly. They were 45 for no loss after the first six overs that comprise power play but lost five wickets while scoring the same number of runs between the 15th and 20th overs.
Gautam Gambhir tried five bowlers in the first six overs without success as Voges and Craig Simmons kept the scoreboard ticking. Voges survived a couple of tight chances though, his full blooded shots escaping the big palms of bowler Jacques Kallis in his follow-through.The first six of the match came in the eighth over bowled by Piyush Chawla. Simmons sent it soaring into the seats behind the mid-wicket boundary. The Perth opener fell soon he charged down the wicket to left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav, was beaten in the air and Robin Uthappa whipped out the bails. Perth 68 for 1 after 9 overs.
The Scorchers slowed down quite a bit after the half-way mark, scoring a mere 35 and losing Mitchell Marsh in the next five overs. During his period, Chawla was guilty of conceding the second six of the innings too — Voges whacking him over the mid-wicket fence.
Perth Scorchers: A. Voges (not out) 71, C. Simmons st Uthappa b Kuldeep 39, M. Marsh st Uthappa b Kuldeep 4, S. Whiteman c Yadav b Narine 21, N. Coulter-Nile c & b Kuldeep 0, A. Agar b Narine 4, A. Turner b Narine 0, Y. Arafat c Gambhir b Narine 10, J. Behrendorff (not out) 0. Extras (w2) 2. Total (for seven wickets in 20 overs) 151.
FoW: 1-68, 2-81, 3-120, 4-120, 5-132, 6-132, 7-150.
Bowling: Yusuf 4-0-22-0, Kallis 4-0-39-0, Kuldeep 4-0-24-3, Narine 4-0-31-4, Chawla 4-0-35-0.
Kolkata Knight Riders: R. Uthappa c Whiteman b Coulter-Nile 23, G. Gambhir c Turner b Paris 2, J. Kallis c Simmons b Behrendorff 6, M. Pandey b Coulter-Nile 24, R. Doeschate c Agar b Yasir Arafat 15, Y. Pathan c Behrendorff b Yasir Arafat 21, S. Yadav (not out) 43, A. Russell b Yasir Arafat 4, P. Chawla (not out) 5. Extras (lb3, w6, nb1) 10. Total (for seven wickets in 19.4 overs) 157.
FoW: 1-6, 2-13, 3-37, 4-67, 5-87, 6-125, 7-147,
Bowling: J. Behrendorff 4-0-28-1, J. Paris 3-0-19-1, N. Coulter-Nile 4-0-41-2, A. Agar 1-0-4-0, Y. Arafat 3.4-0-39-3, G. Hogg 4-0-19-0.
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