KKR beat SRH by 5 wickets (Source: BCCI)
Kolkata Knight Riders beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets in their last league encounter of Indian Premier League, 2018 to qualify for the playoffs of season 11. Opting to bat first, Sunrisers posted a competitive total of 172/9 but failed to the job with the ball as KKR romped home with two balls to spare. The run-chase was led by a couple of fine innings by Chris Lynn (55 off 43 balls) and Robin Uthappa (45 of 34). Towards the end, Dinesh Karthik once again performed the role of a finisher to remain unbeaten on 26 and take his side over the finishing line. While KKR’s win ensures a spot in the playoffs, Twitterati congratulated them on their efforts. Here are some of the best reactions from the world of social media-
Congratulations @KKRiders for making it to the play-offs. The bowlers pulled things back brilliantly after a good start for SRH and in the chase after a good start, DK’s calm presence made it an easy chase. #SRHvKKR
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) 19 May 2018
Been awake 24hrs to see these smiles. Thx @DineshKarthik @prasidh43 (well done young man) @robbieuthappa ( v have to exercise 2gether) @lynny50 (wow mate) & @SunilPNarine74 is…Sunil. Very happy cant sleep now!! pic.twitter.com/gdJWwBOG2K
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) 19 May 2018
So @statanalyst tells us that if #KKR go past 129, their net run rate goes above that of #RR
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) 19 May 2018
Brilliant in the death overs 👏🏼
A blistering start to the chase 🔥
Steady partnerships 💪🏼To(k)night we showed up as a team 😎#SRHvKKR #IPL2018 #KKRHaiTaiyaar pic.twitter.com/cHUrblNpkP
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) 19 May 2018
#SRHvKKR Every team has one player who has scored more than 500 runs except @KKRiders . They have 4 players who have scored over 300 runs and they have 4 bowlers who have taken more than 10 wickets. They had a good first 11 and made best use of the players. #teameffort #IPL2018
— Raziv Ur Rahman (@razivurrahman) 19 May 2018
Meanwhile, SRH skipper Williamson remained optimistic despite losing his third successive game. “We were on target for more runs, wicket played really well. We should have scored around the 200-run mark but credit goes to KKR for dragging us back. Lot of credit goes to the the boys in the field. It doesn’t matter what happens now, we need to come out and play with freedom in the playoffs. Guys are looking forward to that but having said that we wanted to win this game. We have been fraction off the mark in the matches we have lost. I think we should have got more with the bat, we needed one more partnership but they bowled well in the death,” Williamson said at the post-match presentation.