Sunrisers Hyderabad are out of the running, but Kolkata Knight Riders are still very much in it, part of a middle-of-the-table muddle from which two teams will join runaway leaders Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals. Sunrisers could well play party-poopers for Knight Riders here, as they have before, and for Knight Riders, getting the playing XI right will be of utmost importance, since not all their players have shown form or consistency, captain Eoin Morgan lead among them.
You'll find live coverage of the match in English here, and in Hindi here.
And if you're in the USA, you can watch this game on ESPN+ in English, as well as in Hindi.
Umran Malik's second over
Two wides in it, but they were the only runs as Nitish Rana couldn't lay bat to any of the deliveries bar the last one, which was a straight yorker. Here is the pace watch: 141, 136, 147, 145, 143, 133, 145, 142
KKR 42 for 2 after nine overs. This is getting tight.
KKR's chase in trouble
No team has a better record than SRH at defending small totals, and they are at it again. There has been something in the pitch for the quicks, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar set the tone with the new ball. Jason Holder and Rashid Khan have followed it up with a wicket each, and by the time of the first timeout, KKR are just 40 for 2 in eight overs. Shubman Gill is uneaten on 24 off 25.
Welcome, Umran Malik
Just one T20 and one List A match before this, and J&K's Umran Malik has been fast-tracked into the IPL. One over in, and we know why. Big strong bowler, strong action, braced front leg, and he has already bowled the fastest ball by an Indian in this IPL. His pace in first over: 145, 142, 150, 147, 143, 142. He's only 21.
KKR 21 for 0 after four overs.
KKR need 116 to be playoffs favourites again
An innings that never took off has ended with an underwhelming score of 115 for 8. Only six boundaries since the Powerplay. The question now is, whether KKR look to finish it off early for NRR purposes. They don't really need to, though, because their NRR is among the best anyway. So if they win today and later against RR, they are going through unless MI win their games with huge margins.
SRH getting choked out
In the 13th over, Priyam Garg skips out of the crease to loft Shakib Al Hasan for a six over long-on. This is the first boundary since the end of the Powerplay, and just about takes SRH's run-rate over five. We are just witnessing the falling apart of a team that was one of the more consistent performers in the IPL. They just don't have the batting. SRH 67 for 4 in 13 overs.
Shakib gets Williamson
And is that the match? Williamson looks for a quick single to the leg side, but Shakib, also the bowler, is quick to run across to his right, field the ball and then throw down the stumps at the non-striker's end. SRH 38 for 3 in 6.5 overs. Williamson scored 26 of those off 21 balls, but that run was not great. On a flat deck, I would say why risk your wicket for just a single, but this year has been different so singles matter. Having said that, this one needed a dive.
Williamson masterclass
This is how the last over of the Powerplay went.
Ball 1 Short of a length, wide, crunched to the right of cover, four through extra cover.
Ball 2 Cut away hard, but straight to cover-point
Ball 3 Delays the shot to beat that man at cover-point to his left
Ball 4 Sweeper goes back on the off side, but Williamson still manages to hit this wide enough to his left to come back for two
Ball 5 Skips down the crease, just push-drives to the right of sweeper for four
Ball 6 If sweeper has gone back on the off side, someone has top have come up. Third man it is. Williamson dabs on this and finds the gap between point and short third man.
SRH 35 for 2 at the end of the Powerplay.
Some Test bowling
In the first four overs Tim Southee and Shivam Mavi have bowled basically Test-match lengths and got some seam movement to leave SRH struggling. Both the openers are gone, Wirddhiman Saha in the first over and Jason Roy in the fourth after a prolonged struggle. KKR will look to make sure they hurt SRH enough before the death overs, which are KKR's weakness. SRH 16 for 2 after four overs.
KKR's chance to pull ahead
Kolkata Knight Riders will be chasing as they look to break away from the mid-table muddle. They are playing Sunrisers Hyderabad, who are already out of the tournament and, thus, dangerous as they have nothing to lose.
SRH have handed a debut to Umran Malik, who, not long ago, was a nets bowler with them. Then T Natarajan got Covid-19, and Malik, from Jammu & Kashmir, came into the squad. Malik, 21, has played just one T20 and one List A match so there must be something special about him. He bowls right-arm pace.
KKR have finally brought in Shakib Al Hasan, which should give them some bowling cover. It also means Andre Russell is not yet fit.
Sunrisers Hyderabad 1 JJ Roy, 2 WP Saha (wk), 3 KS Williamson (capt.), 4 PK Garg, 5 Abhishek Sharma, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 JO Holder, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 B Kumar, 10 S Kaul, 11 Umran Malik
Kolkata Knight Riders 1 VR Iyer, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 RA Tripathi, 4 N Rana, 5 EJG Morgan (capt.), 6 KD Karthik†, 7 Shakib Al Hasan, 8 SP Narine, 9 TG Southee, 10 CV Varun, 11 Shivam Mavi
Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
Live match blog - Sunrisers vs KKR 49th Match 2021 - Cricket Insights - ESPNcricinfo
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