The crucial first double-header game ended in a dramatic finish. Warner almost took over his side to the finishing line but the match ended in super over. Ferguson's brilliant super-over made Kolkata smile and also offered two important points to extend a run on 4th spot.
Toss: Hyderabad opted to bowl first
Team Changes: Abdul Samad and Basil Thampi come in (Hyderabad)
Lockie Ferguson and Kuldeep Yadav come in (Kolkata)
Venue: Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Detailed Match Report
Kolkata got a positive start as Gill and Tripathi added quick 48 but Natrajan bowled Tripathi to find relief for Hyderabad. Shubhman Gill was going strong but he couldn’t convert his score into big. Hyderabad got Gill and Rana on successive overs to put pressure on Kolkata. Russell was promoted at number 4 but his poor form with the bat continued, scoring just 9. Dinesh Karthik showed some fire in the end with scoring 29 off just 14 and put 58 runs stand with Morgan. The skipper smashed 16 runs from Thampi’s final over to set the total of 164 for Hyderabad.
To put strength at middle-over, Warner sent Williamson and Bairstow in the opening. The new pair added 57 runs in the powerplay and Ferguson picked the wicket of Williamson to open the game for Kolkata. Ferguson bowled exceptionally and got two important wickets of Garg and Pandey. Chakravarthy grabbed Bairstow on 36. With 3 quick wickets in middle-overs, Kolkata made a comeback. Cummins got Shankar in 15th over to put more pressure on Hyderabad. Abdul Samad and Warner took the charge as they added quick runs to make this chase more interesting. Ferguson and Gill picked a stunner together at boundary line to send Samad to the pavilion and put Kolkata on driver's seat. In final over, Russell came to defend 18 runs and started with a no-ball. Warner almost finished the game with cracking shots in the end but the match went into the super over as Warner failed to get double on the final ball.
Super Over – Ferguson bowled finest Super-over of the tournament with picking Warner and Samad in first three balls to set the target of just 3 runs for Kolkata. Kolkata easily got this target against Rashid Khan to win the match and got two vital points.
Star-performer of the match
Lockie Ferguson is our star performer of the match. In his opening spell, he went for just 8 runs and picked three important wickets of Williamson, Garg and Manish Pandey. He finished the spell with just 15 runs in 4-overs. In Super-over, he scalped two wickets to finish the game for Kolkata.
Top 5 players who made an impact in the game
Lockie Ferguson 4-0-15-3 & 2-2
Dinesh Karthik 29 (14)
Jonny Bairstow 36 (28)
David Warner 47 (33)
Eoin Morgan 34 (23)
