Gautam Gambhir (53), Jacques Kallis (41) and Eoin Morgan (47) guided Kolkata Knight Riders on a comfortable win on Sunrisers Hyderabad in an Indian Premier League match at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.
KKR defeated SH by 48 runs. Sunrisers managed 132/7, replying to an imposing 180.
In the post match conference KKR captain, Gambhir said, "Morgan's knock made the entire difference. When you are thinking of 160 as a target and you get 180, it is always a big plus. Those 20 plus runs were possible because of his knock".
Captain was all praise for fellow opener Manvinder Bisla who scored a quickfire 28 to give his team a solid start.
"Bisla's innings was very important as it took away all the pressure from me. With him playing the big shots, I was happy playing second fiddle to him. His knock allowed me to take time and settle down," Gambhir added.
Batting first, KKR began well as their openers Gambhir and Manvider Bisla scored fluently reaching 50 in the 7th over as Sunrisers bowlers failed to make any impact.
Kallis and Morgan also smashed SH bowlers all around the park. Morgan scored 22 of the last over of Thisara Perera, including three boundaries and a six, to take KKR past the 150 run mark in the 18th over.
Morgan was run out in the very next over to bring curtains to his blistering knock.
Sunrisers started off solidly with explosive batsman Cameron White promoting himself up the order to partner Parthiv Patel. They together made a 50-run opening partnership.
However, the stand was broken at 57 when Patel (27) was castled by a Jacques Kallis delivery while going for an expansive shot.
After Patel's exit Cameron (34) and Sangakkara (2) departed in quick secession leaving the score at 71/3.
All-rounder Kallis, took 3 wickets giving away just 13 runs.
Gautam Gambhir was named man of the match.
KKR have now won 2 out of their 4 matches and are at 6th position in points table whereas SH have won 3 out of their 5 matches and are at 4th position.
(with inputs from IANS)
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