Sidelights
For the first time Glenn Maxwell and David Miller could not score for KXIP but Virender Sehwag did. 132 was probably the in-between score for the KKR to chase after it could have been 10-15 runs more had Sunil Narine did not remove three important wickets in his final over. 132 was probably enough after what we have witnessed in the first game of the day between RR and RCB, but Gautam Gambhir read the pitch wrong and asked KXIP to bat first. KKR’s main problem is a failure of their Indian batsmen and their biggest purchases few years back, Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan are hopelessly out of touch. Time for them to take some really tough decision if they want to keep themselves in the hunt.
IPL 7 | Match 15 | KXIP Vs KKR
Venue: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Toss: KKR and elected to field first
Playing XIs:
KXIP: Cheteshwar Pujara, Virender Sehwag, Wriddhiman Saha, Glenn Maxwell, David Miller, George Bailey, Rishi Dhawan, Akshar Patel, Mitchell Johnson, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Sandeep Sharma
KKR: Manish Pandey, Jacques Kallis, Gautam Gambhir, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Yusuf Pathan, Suryakumar Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Morne Morkel
Mini Score Card:
KXIP 132/9 (20) Run rate 6.60
Virender Sehwag 37 (30) | Piyush Chawla 3/19 (4)
Rishi Dhawan 19* (18) | Sunil Narine 3/24 (4)
KKR 109 – all out (18.2) Run rate: 5.94
Suryakumar Yadav 34 (17) | Sandeep Sharma 3/21 (4)
Robin Uthappa 19 (27) | Akshar Patel 2/16 (4)
Result: KXIP won by 23 runs
Points: KXIP 2 (Total 8), KKR 0 (Total 4)
Man of the match: Sandeep Sharma (KXIP)
Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena | Richard Illingworth | C Shamsuddin (3rd) | K Srinath (Reserve)
Match Referee: Andy Pycroft
How they played the game
Powerplay: KXIP 51 runs, 2 wickets | KKR 24 runs, 3 wickets
First 50 runs: KXIP 36 balls | KKR 65 balls
50-100 runs: KXIP 44 balls | KKR 39 balls
Best Partnership
KXIP: 3rd wicket – 30 runs off 21 balls between Maxwell 15 (12) and Sehwag 12 (9)
KKR: 4th wicket – 31 runs off 36 balls between Uthappa 14 (23) and Lynn 13 (13)
Fours and SIXES
KXIP – 12 Fours (3 by Sehwag, 2 each by Maxwell, Miller and Dhawan, 1 each by Pujara, Saha and Bailey) | 2 SIXES (1 each by Sehwag and Saha)
KKR – 10 Fours (3 by Yadav, 2 each by Kallis, Lynn and Uthappa, 1 by Pandey) | 1 SIX by Yadav
Important fact of the match
* This was KXIP’s 4th win in a row in this year’s IPL and 7 overall.
In the PIC: Virender Sehwag showed some signs of his legacy
Picture Courtesy: ESPN-Cricinfo
