As the group stage concludes in a thrilling manner, the tournament enters its playoff stage, with Kolkata Knight Riders facing off against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the qualifier one. The nation witnessed an exhilarating match showcasing the batting prowess of both teams, leaving a mark on the orange cap table.
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Batting Struggles:
In this whole season, Sunrisers Hyderabad showcased their excellence with their power-packed batting performance. But in the first qualifier, their magic with the bat. After winning the toss, Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Pat Cummins opted to bat first. But they struggled since the first. Travis Head was dismissed on a duck. Abhishek Sharma was dismissed in 3 runs in 4 balls.Â
In that crucial point, Rahul Tripathi stood tall. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shahbaz Ahmed also walked away early. After that, Heinrich Klaasen joined Tripathi. The duo added 62 runs on the board. Rahul Tripathi scored an amazing half-century and played a knock of 55 runs in 35 balls. Klaasen was dismissed on 32 runs. Abdul Samad added 16 runs on the board. They got all out in 159 runs.Â
Kolkata’s Excellent Batting:
Kolkata Knight Riders showcased their dominance even in the second innings. In Phill Salt’s absence, Rahmanullah Gurbaz accompanied Sunil Narine in the opening position. The duo gave a decent start. Gurbaz was dismissed on 23 runs and Sunil Narine walked away after scoring 21 runs. KKR was in a good position then the Iyer duo came to the field.
Coming at number 3 and 4, two batters played exceptional cricket and sealed the win. Both scored their half-centuries. Venkatesh Iyer played an unbeaten knock of 51 runs in 28 balls. On the other hand, captain Shreyas Iyer was unbeaten on 58 runs. With those exciting performances, KKR won the match by 8 wickets.Â
The Orange Cap Scenario:
| Batter | Team | Runs | Match | Highest score | Average |
| Virat Kohli | RCB | 708 | 14 | 113 | 64.36 |
| Ruturaj Gaikwad | CSK | 583 | 14 | 108 | 53.00 |
| Travis Head | SRH | 533 | 13 | 102 | 44.42 |
| Riyan Parag | RR | 531 | 14 | 84 | 59.00 |
| Sai Sudharsan | GT | 527 | 12 | 103 | 47.91 |
| KL Rahul | LSG | 520 | 14 | 82 | 37.14 |
| Sanju Samson | RR | 504 | 14 | 86 | 56.00 |
| Nicholas Pooran | LSG | 499 | 14 | 75 | 62.38 |
| Sunil Narine | KKR | 482 | 14 | 109 | 37.08 |
| Abhishek Sharma | SRH | 470 | 14 | 75 | 36.15 |
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