Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) defeated SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 10 runs in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 campaign opener at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday. With the win, KKR are tied with Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at two points each. Delhi Capitals lead the points table thanks to a superior net run-rate after their commanding win over MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings. On Monday, Rajasthan Royals will take on Punjab Kings and the winner of that match will join Delhi, KKR and RCB in the top four list on the IPL 2021 points table.
On Sunday after being asked to bat, KKR posted a total of 187/6 thanks to handy contributions from Nitish Rana (80) and Rahul Tripathi (53).
In reply, Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow scored half-centuries but they failed to get their side over the line as SRH fell 10 runs short of the 188-run target.
There have been only three games so far in the ongoing edition of the IPL but the race for the Orange Cap is already heating up.
Shikhar Dhawan, who scored a sublime half-century against CSK, leads the scorers’ chart with 85 runs.
Nitish Rana, who played a crucial knock of 80 against SRH on Sunday, is second on the list. Behind him is Delhi Capitals’ Prithvi Shaw and the SRH duo of Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow.
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As for the Purple Cap, RCB’s Harshal Patel, who produced a match-winning spell of 5 for 27, leads the way as the highest wicket-taker in the tournament so far.
There is an eight-way tie for the second spot as Avesh Khan, Rashid Khan, Chris Woakes, Jasprit Bumrah, Marco Jansen, Mohammad Nabi, Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur have all picked up two wickets each.
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