Nitish Rana struck his first half-century of the IPL season to help Kolkata Knight Riders recover from a poor start in the encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Brabourne Stadium here on Friday.
At the time of going to press, SRH were 46-2 in six overs.
Rana, who came to the crease with his side at 31 for 3 in the fifth over, compiled 54 in 36 balls.
The left-handed batsman, one of four in the top six of the Knight Riders line-up, struck six fours and two sixes and was sixth out after adding 39 runs with the big-hitting Andre Russell.
Nitish Rana
The West Indian all-rounder, the team’s top scorer this season, remained unconquered on 49 in 25 balls with the help of four sixes.
Russell’s power-packed knock included two sixes in the last over bowled by spinner Jagadeesha Suchith, replacement for the injured Washington Sundar, and four fours as Knight Riders finished on 175 for 8 after they were 70-4 at the half-way stage. Knight Riders, sent in to bat on a seaming track, lost Aaron Finch, in his first match for the franchise, Venkatesh Iyer and Sunil Narine, all cheaply.
Australia’s Finch, who arrived here after taking part in the white-ball series against hosts Pakistan, was dismissed by Marco Jansen, the lanky South African quick for six.
Then, the other left-arm pacer in Sunrisers’ ranks, T Natarajan, grabbed two wickets in his first three balls to leave Knight Riders in some trouble.
Venkatesh was bowled through the gate and Narine was caught off a full toss from Natarajan.
Rana, with skipper Shreyas Iyer (28) for company, steadied the innings as the duo carried the score to 70 when Shreyas was yorked by Umran Malik who later picked up another wicket to finish with an impressive 2 for 27.
Natarajan bagged 3 for 37 to take his tally of wickets in the season to 11.
