The 47th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 saw Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) registering a jaw-dropping victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in an exciting encounter at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday (May 4). The contest witnessed KKR pulling off a stunning 5-run win in a nail-biting thriller courtesy of Varun Chakravarthy’s magical last over.
Winning the toss and electing to bat first, KKR posted a competitive total of 171/9 in their allotted 20 overs. Rinku Singh top-scored for his team with 46 runs off 35 balls, while Nitish Rana and Andre Russell also made valuable contributions of 42 and 24 runs. At the same time, Marco Jansen was the pick of the bowlers for SRH, taking two wickets.
In reply, Hyderabad got off to a decent start, with Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen scoring 41 and 36 runs. Although when it almost felt like that SRH would comfortably win the game, KKR bowlers turned the tables with their stunning performances and snatched a sensational victory from the jaws of defeat for their side.
What turned out to be the masterstroke in the match was Kolkata skipper Nitish’s decision to make Chakravarthy bowl the final over with eight runs to defend. The 31-year-old spinner didn’t disappoint his captain and gave just three runs off the final six balls making Hyderabad end their innings five runs short of the target, i.e. on a score of 166/8 in their 20 overs. Chakravarthy was adjudged the ‘Player of the Match’ for holding his nerve in the crunch moment and bagging one scalp for his team.
Speaking in the post-match presentation after the win, Nitish told how his gamble of bringing in Shardul Thakur and Vaibhav Arora in the middle overs paid off. He also revealed the reason behind his match-winning decision of giving the ball to Chakravarthy in the final over and said that despite being doubtful, he backed his spinner.
“In the middle we bowled a few loose overs and took a gamble with Shardul and Vaibhav and they managed to get both set batters and that’s how we made a comeback in this game. We had to get them out because if they bat till the end, then surely the game would have gone out of our reach,” said Nitish.
“I had a doubt if I had to go with spinner or pacer and backed my spinner to do the job. I always see who is the best spinner in the game and that’s how I decide whom to back on the given day,” he added.
