END OF OVER:20 | 3 Runs 1 Wkt | SRH: 166/8 (6 runs required, RR: 8.30)
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar5 (5b)
- Mayank Markande1 (2b)
- Varun Chakravarthy4-0-20-1
- Vaibhav Arora3-0-32-2
11.22 pm Sunrisers needed 10 runs off eight legal balls with a free hit at the start of that sequence, but somehow stumble badly short of the finish line, only cobbling together four runs off the last eight balls including nothing off that free hit. What a final over by Varun Chakaravarthy. Two runs off the bat, a leg bye, three dots and a wicket. This result shows why Sunrisers have been anchored to the bottom half of the table, if not the bottom of the table, for nearly the entire season.
Mayank Sawhney: "Varun,,,,You Beauty.....Although He Picked Up Only 1 Wicket....But the Way he Bowled those last 2 Overs, giving away just 8 Runs....He literally got KKR this Win from the Jaws of Defeat. "
Sunrisers captain Aiden Markram: "I thought we played good cricket for a large portion of that game but unfortunately in the crunch times we got it wrong. So it's a difficult one to swallow. Klaasy batted beautifully. I struggled quite a bit up front and partially quite a big reason for us coming up short I believe. But Klaasen played well, took a bit of pressure off me and then I could eventually find my feet. But those partnerships, we need to drag out slightly longer and those partnerships are the one that win you the game. I thought the bowlers were good. Guys threw themselves around in the field which was good to see and then with the bat, we set up some partnerships but at the end of it, those partnerships were not enough to get us across the line. You'd rather get it wrong trying to be aggressive. Ultimately guys have played enough cricket to know when is the right time and we'll keep backing them and their decision-making. Hopefully it's a situation that brings out the best in us. I thought we played a lot of great cricket tonight so to not get two points is not ideal and not great. But there's a bit of confidence we can take from tonight and get four out of four."
KKR bowler Shardul Thakur: "I think the stage was set for me to get the wicket. If I get a wicket or two there, we are in the game and that's exactly what happened. [On captain Nitish Rana asking Varun to bowl the final over ahead of himself] The captain had a feeling that he should bowl Varun Chakaravarthy. So as a player, I just have to give confidence to our captain to go with your instincts. There's no point going in there with any kind of doubt. If he feels he needs to bowl Varun, I said go with your intuition. It was a little sticky. I felt if you bowled length balls, you would have been fine. If you see previous games, something needs to happen and we would lose a game from winning point. It's been difficult, not easy with injuries, so this win was much needed. [Getting Klaasen out] On this kind of pitch, I thought about a cutter but the most important thing was to execute the length and hope that he plays a cross-batted shot and miscues one. When I went out to bat, I played just five or six balls but quickly saw some are stopping and some are coming on so thought I might as well use that."
Player of the Match is Varun Chakaravarthy for that superb death sequence ending with 1 for 20: "My heartbeat was definitely touching 200 [beats per minute] but I just wanted to challenge them on the longer end so that was my plan. [On gripping the slick ball in the rain] Definitely the ball was slipping a lot and so my best bet was the longer side. That was the only thing in my mind. My first over went for 12 and Markram played some amazing shots. That's how the game goes. It's very important to stay in the process. Once emotions set in, I might tend to get carried away and forget my process. Last year, I was bowling around 85 kph. So I went back and was trying out many things and I realized that once my revolutions go down, my speed goes down. So I worked on my revs and that really helps."
So to recap, KKR are now on 8 points after 10 games, two points behind the last playoff berth held by Rajasthan, but the Royals have a game in hand. As do RCB and Mumbai in the logjam on 10 points. Sunrisers meanwhile are tied with Delhi in last place on six points. That's it for live coverage from today's contest. Come back tomorrow for more live IPL action. Until then, take care!
All down to Bhuvi to clear the ropes here if SRH are going to win this now. The Sunrisers ESPNcricinfo win probability was 84.24% at the start of this over.