Kolkata Knight Riders kept their hopes of qualifying for the playoff stage of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with an impressive six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad.

At the Dubai International Stadium in Dubai Hyderabad after opting to bat could post only a modest 115 for eight in their 20 overs. Kolkata chased down the target in 19.4 overs with six wickets to spare to finish on 119 for four.

Earlier, Hyderabad struggled all through their innings as they lost wickets at regular intervals. Captain Kane Williamson (26), Abdul Samad (25) and Priyam Garg (21) were the only key contributors with the bat. The other batsmen struggled to get going. There was no partnership of note as Kolkata gained total control of the match.

For Kolkata wickets were shared between Tim Southee (2-26), Shivam Mavi (2-29) and Varun Chakravarthy (2-26).

In the chase, Kolkata was well served by the opener Shubman Gill (57: 51b, 10x4) who anchored the innings very well. Gill shared a 55 run third wicket stand with Nitish Rana to completely shut Hyderabad out of the contest. Towards the end former captain Dinesh Karthik and current skipper Eoin Morgan were at the crease to seal the chase. Kolkata overhauled the target in 19.4 overs with six wickets to spare.

Earlier, Kolkata made one change to their playing XI bringing in Shakib Al Hasan in place of Tim Seifert. Hyderabad on the other hand gave debut to exciting express paceman Umran Malik.

6?th win of the season @KKRiders! ?? ??

A comfortable victory for @Eoin16 & Co. as they beat #SRH by 6? wickets ?? ?? #VIVOIPL #KKRvSRH

Scorecard ?? https://t.co/Z5rRXTNps5 pic.twitter.com/lQINO8DijE

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) October 3, 2021

Match Summary

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 115-8 (20)
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Wriddhiman Saha-0.2 ov), 2-16 (Jason Roy-3.4 ov), 3-38 (Kane Williamson-6.5 ov), 4-51 (Abhishek Sharma-10.1 ov), 5-70 (Priyam Garg-14.2 ov), 6-80 (Jason Holder-16.1 ov), 7-95 (Abdul Samad-17.2 ov), 8-103 (Rashid Khan-18.2 ov)

Kolkata Knight Riders: 119-4 (19.4)
Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Venkatesh Iyer-4.4 ov), 2-38 (Rahul Tripathi-6.4 ov), 3-93 (Shubman Gill-16.3 ov), 4-106 (Nitish Rana-17.6 ov)

Result: Kolkata Knight Riders won by six wickets

Scorecard

Playing XI
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (captain), Shakib Al Hasan, Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Sunil Narine, Shivam Mavi, Tim Southee, Varun Chakaravarthy

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Jason Roy, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Kane Williamson (captain), Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik, Siddarth Kaul

Match details
Toss: Sunrisers Hyderabad, elected to bat
Venue: Dubai International Stadium, Dubai
Start time: 1800 hrs UAE time
Match officials: Jayaraman Madanagopal, Michael Gough (On-field umpires); Navdeep Singh (TV Umpire); Saiyed Khalid (Reserve Umpire); Manu Nayyar (Match-referee)