Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Nitish Rana feels dismissing Heinrich Klaasen and Aiden Makram was the turning point after their five-run win against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad on Thursday.
KKR posted a competitive score of 171 runs on the board after winning the toss. After losing three early wickets in the powerplay overs, Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh played crucial knocks and helped their team in making a comeback.
Rana took the attack against young Kartik Tyagi and went on to score 42 runs from 31 balls. Rinku Singh continued his good form as he scored 46 runs from 35 balls and added 61 runs for the fourth wicket with his skipper.
On the other hand, Sunrisers Hyderabad was in a shoo-in position in the run-chase as they required 38 runs off 30 balls but could not get over the line. Aiden Markram scored 41 runs from 40 balls whereas Heinrich Klaasen smashed 36 from 20 balls. However, Markram failed to change gears towards the end and he was dismissed by Vaibhav Arora.
Klaasen was dismissed by Shardul Thakur after playing a good knock whereas Varun Chakravarthy accounted for Abdul Samad in the final over when nine runs were required.
Rana feels getting crucial wickets of the South African duo helped them make a comeback into the contest.
Nitish Rana said in the post-match presentation, “In the middle, we bowled a few loose overs and took a gamble with Shardul and Vaibhav and they managed to get both set batters and that’s how we made a comeback in this game.”
He added, “We had to get them out because if they bat till the end, then surely the game would have gone out of our reach. I had a doubt if I had to go with spinner/pacer and backed my spinner to do the job. I always see who is the best spinner in the game and that’s how I decide whom to back on the given day.”
Kolkata Knight Riders will next face take on Punjab Kings at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Monday.
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