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Hogg puts Sunrisers in a spin

Excellent bowling from Brad Hogg and Umesh Yadav helps Kolkata see off David Warner's Sunrisers

Brad Hogg put Sunrisers Hyderabad in a spin on an Eden Garden track tailor-made for the tweakers as the Kolkata Knight Riders claimed a 35-run victory on Monday.

Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir’s rollicking start and the pedigree of Kolkata spinners Hogg, Johan Botha and Piyush Chawla proved to be the difference between the sides.

Hogg now has eight wickets from four matches, has the second best average (10.87) in the competition behind Mitchell Starc (9.54) and the fourth best economy rate at 6.21.

Moises Henriques was a standout performer for Hyderabad with the bat, having already played his part in slowing down the Knight Riders with the ball, but Yadav and Brad Hogg shared four wickets between them to wreck the Sunrisers chase.

The track was expected to slow down and it influenced the playing Xis, with Kolkata bringing in Johan Botha in place of Pat Cummins and Hyderabad opting for Bipul Sharma for Ashish Reddy.

Kolkata raced off to a blazing start through openers Gambhir and Robin Uthappa as the usually accurate Bhuvneshwar Kumar went for 16 from his first two overs while Dale Steyn was taken for 18 from his two.

Kolkata reached the six-over mark with 55 on the board and both their openers intact, but once the ball lost its sheen and the fielding restrictions were relaxed scoring became more difficult.

Karn Sharma’s very first over after the Powerplay overs resulted in Gambhir slog-sweeping him straight to the deep mid-wicket fielder, departing for 31 off 23.

Uthappa (30 off 27) was the second batsman gone as Warner held a fine, low catch at short cover off a rasping drive, Karn getting his second wicket.

Kolkata decided to go for the dash at this stage, not minding the quick loss of wickets.

Andre Russell’s promotion to number four lasted just three balls, while Manish Pandey’s 33 ended in a run-out.

Image Id: ~/media/FAC603CCBC9447A28131ED259517C687David Warner celebrates a catch // BCCI

When Ryan ten Doeschate missed a straight one from Moises Henriques and was adjudged lbw, Kolkata had lost half their side for 111 with just five overs remaining.

A score of 150 looked distant at that stage but some lusty hitting from Yusuf Pathan (30 off 19) and Botha (12 from six) ensured the Knight Riders ended up with 167.

The final five overs reaped 56 runs for the Knight Riders, thanks in no small way to the fact that all of them were bowled by quick bowlers.

Given the target on hand and Hyderabad’s lack of middle-order prowess, they needed a start that mirrored Kolkata’s opening partnership.

Instead, Yadav’s first over all but ended the Sunrisers’ hopes.

After Warner sent a short ball from Yadav over mid-wicket for a four, he retaliated with a length delivery that pitched outside leg and took the batsman’s off stump.

A bemused Warner was left shaking his head in surprise, out for four.

Three balls later, Naman Ojha had had his stumps pegged back in a similar manner to reduce Hyderabad to 2-6 after an over.

These six balls won Yadav the man-of-the-match award too.

Any recovery from there needed Shikhar Dhawan to bat through most part of the chase and for someone else to take on the Kolkata spinners.

Easier said than done, against the bowling that consisted of Hogg, Botha and Chawla and once Dhawan had miscued a long-hop from the Aussie chinaman bowler, the side was left with a mountain to climb.

Karn Sharma managed to entertain the crowd with three successive sixes in the 18th over off Botha before Kolkata completed a convincing win.

Hogg’s four overs cost him just 17 runs and he picked up two wickets while Chawla ended with 1-16 from his four.

Kolkata have moved to 11 points from 10 games while Hyderabad are tied with Delhi and Mumbai on eight points, having played nine.