Twitter Reactions: Kolkata keep playoff hopes alive with a crushing win over Hyderabad

Kolkata and Hyderabad locked horns in the 61st game of the Indian T20 League 2022 at the MCA stadium in Pune. It was a must-win match for both teams as the race to the playoffs is getting more intense with every passing game. Keeping that in mind, the Shreyas Iyer-led side won the toss and elected to bat first. They had a poor start as Venkatesh Iyer (7) was dismissed by Marco Jansen in the second over of the first innings.

Nitish Rana (26) and Ajinkya Rahane stitched a partnership of 48 runs in 5.3 overs. Rana was caught at deep square leg in the seventh over. In the same over, Malik got rid of Rahane (28), who was brilliantly caught at sweeper cover by Shashank Singh. Two overs later, Malik took his third wicket in the form of Shreyas Iyer (15), who was caught at deep midwicket by Rahul Tripathi.

In the 12th over, Rinku Singh (5) was trapped lbw by T. Natarajan. AT 94/5, Andre Russell and Sam Billings stitched a partnership of 63 runs before the latter was caught at extra-cover by opposition skipper, Kane Williamson. Russell (49*) hit three sixes in the last over against Washington Sundar to take the team to 177/6. In reply, the 2016-winners had a slow start with openers were batting in a completely bizarre manner.

Although Sharma was playing fluently, Hyderabad’s skipper Kane Williamson (9) struggled in his 17-ball stay before he was clean bowled facing Russell, while trying to play the scoop shot in the last over of the powerplay. Three overs later, Rahul Tripathi (9) was caught and bowled by Tim Southee. Sharma, who was going great guns with 43 off 28 including four fours and two sixes, was then dismissed by Varun Chakravarthy.

In form, Nicholas Pooran (2) was caught and bowled by Sunil Narine in the 13th over. Two overs later, Aiden Markram (32) was chopped on the stumps facing Umesh Yadav’s yorker. These wickets hurt the team badly as the required run rate kept climbing. Eventually, the Kolkata-based franchise were restricted to 123/8, losing the game by 55 runs.

This is how Twitter reacted