Pathan record knock demolishes Sunrisers

India

The Kolkata Knight Riders 'pulled a Holland' on Saturday night as they reached their target in the 15th over, though only needing 161 to win against the Sunrisers Hyderabad and winning by four wickets.

The Kolkata Knight Riders 'pulled a Holland' on Saturday night as they reached their target in the 15th over, though only needing 161 to win against the Sunrisers Hyderabad and winning by four wickets.

The Sunrisers made 160 for seven in their 20 overs, with none of their batsmen getting out of the 20s. Kolkata then reached that target in 14.2 overs, with Yusuf Pathan smashing 72 off 22 balls, including the fastest IPL fifty.

Kolkata won the toss and elected to field, putting Hyderabad's beleaguered line up under pressure, and did so well. Opener David Warner was bowled by Morne Morkel with the second ball of the knock, having struck four off the first.

From there the top order was unable to get going, losing wickets just as they got set. Shikhar Dhawan, Naman Ojha, Venugopal Rao and Darren Sammy all made it to the 20s but could not kick on.

Spinner Sunil Narine was once again superb, and while he took no wickets he only went for 19 runs in his four overs, strangling the batsmen to allow the others to take the wickets. There were three run outs and a stumping, after the batsmen got frustrated.

The chase again got off to a good start when Robin Uthappa recorded his ninth score over 40 in a row. He and Gautam Gambhir put on 43 for the first wicket before the latter was out to Jason Holder for 28.

Karn Sharma then bagged Manish Pandey for two, one of four wickets he took that ended up being useless, thanks to Yusuf's aggression. The big bearded Indian took the attack apart, and even Dale Steyn went for more than 10 to the over.

Pathan hit five sixes in his first 50 runs, coming off just 15 balls, a new IPL record. He also his three fours in that time, meaning only eight runs actually needed to be run. In the end, his 72 included five fours and seven sixes.

Pathan did not see the game to the end though, falling to Sharma with the score on 153. But three balls later the game was over when Suryakumar Yadav ended it, making 12 off five balls. The win essentially ensured Kolkata's play-off place.

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