IPL 2022: Top knocks by Nitish Rana, Andre Russell propel KKR to 175/8 against SRH

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 15 (ANI): Nitish Rana’s knock of 54 and unbeaten 49 by Andre Russell helped Kolkata Knight Riders post 175/8 in 20 overs against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL 2022 match at the Brabourne Stadium here on Friday.
Nitish Rana and Andre Russell guided Kolkata Knight Riders to a challenging target. For SRH, T Natarajan bagged three wickets while Umran Malik scalped two wickets.
Put to bat first, Kolkata Knight Riders openers Aaron Finch and Venkatesh Iyer took the crease against SRH bowlers. Sunrisers Hyderabad needed some early wickets and Marco Jansen did exactly that dismissing opener Aaron Finch in the second over.
KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer walked into bat with Venkatesh Iyer and kept the scoreboard moving. KKR batters struggled to score runs against SRH bowlers in the powerplay. In the 5th, over T Natarajan dismissed KKR opener Venkatesh Iyer for 4 runs. In the same over T Natarajan struck again as he dismissed Sunil Narine caught by Shashank Singh. Narine had scored six runs and Kolkata were tottering at 31 for 3.
Nitish Rana came to the crease and tried to anchor the innings with the skipper and they hammered SRH bowlers all around the ground. KKR desperately needed a partnership and Nitish Rana and Shreyas Iyer did exactly that to take the team’s total beyond the 50-run mark in the eighth over.
Umran Malik broke the 39-run partnership dismissing Shreyas Iyer for 28 as KKR lost their fourth wicket at 70. Sheldon Jackson joined Rana and the duo batted sensibly to take the team’s total beyond the triple-figure mark in the 13th over.
Umran Malik was brought back into the attack and the pacer gave a blow to KKR dismissing Jackson for 7 and Kolkata were five down at 103. Jackson’s wicket led Andre Russell to the crease who hammered SRH bowlers all around the ground.
In the 15th over of the innings, Nitish Rana notched up a half-century made in 32 balls. T Natarajan dismissed Rana for 54 caught by Nicholas Pooran as KKR lost their sixth wicket for 144. Russell along with Umesh Yadav took the team’s total to 175/8 as they gathered 17 runs in the last over.
Brief score: Kolkata Knight Riders 175/8 (Nitish Rana 54, Andre Russell 49*; T Natarajan 3-37) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad. (ANI)