Gill stars in KKR win as they stay in hunt for play-offs

KKR’s Shubman Gill en route his 57 against SRH yesterday

Young Shubman Gill hit a fine half century after an impressive display by the bowlers to guide Kolkata Knight Riders to a six-wicket win over Sunrisres Hyderabad and keep their IPL play-offs hopes alive here on Sunday.

KKR first produced a clinical bowling effort to restrict SRH to a below-par 115 for eight and then rode on Gill's 57 off 51 balls to reach home comfortably.

The win consolidated KKR's position at the fourth place in the standings with 12 points from 13 games. With three play-off berths already taken by Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore, the race is on for the fourth and final spot between KKR, Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians while Punjab Kings are all but out of the tournament.

SRH bowlers fightback

Defending a small total, SRH bowlers were right on their money from the word go as KKR batsmen struggled to force the pace of the innings.
Rashid Khan too created enough problems for the KKR batsmen, while Siddharth Kaul was incisive with his line and length, making it difficult for opposition batsmen to open their arms.

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No easy ride

Venkatesh Iyer (8) and Rahul Tripathi (7) fell to Holder and Rashid in quick succession after which Gill and Rana found it difficult to rotate the strike as the asking rate climbed up with KKR reaching 44-2 at the halfway mark. The match witnessed some tense moment when Rana was dismissed in the 18th over but Dinesh Karthik (18 not out) and Eoin Morgan (2 not out) closed down the chase with two balls to spare.

Brief scores
SRH 115-8 in 20 overs (K Williamson 26, A Samad 25; T Southee 2-26, V Chakaravarthy 2-26) lost to KKR 119-4 in 19.4 overs (S Gill 57, N Rana 25; J Holder 2-32) by six wickets

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