Manish Pandey
Manish Pandey, born in Karnataka and currently playing for Kolkata Knight Riders of the Indian Premier League, has established himself as one of the premier right-handed middle-order batsmen since his IPL debut in 2008. Renowned for his aggressive batting style and frequent runs scored, Manish is widely considered as one of the premier players in IPL 2018.
A 24-year-old batsman currently playing in the IPL tournament boasts a career-best average of 36.25. Additionally, he has represented India in four ODIs as part of this season. He has enjoyed success thus far and hopes for further success throughout this competition; Sunrisers Hyderabad’s match against Kolkata Knight Riders should prove an exciting contest!
In their opening match of this year’s Indian Premier League, Kolkata Knight Riders beat Mumbai Indians by nine wickets at Wankhede Stadium despite facing an uphill struggle en route to victory. This win gave their competition hopes a timely boost.
Gautam Gambhir’s return to KKR has rejuvenated their franchise, and they hope to replicate their past success this season. On Friday at Eden Gardens they held their inaugural practice session before beginning preparations for this tournament.
Gauti stressed the significance of emotional connections within his squad and stressed how important diversity within it was, reminding his players about past victories they had already accomplished.
Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow combined to help SRH chase down their target of 188 runs with ease. Sharing 67 off 47 deliveries during the third over, these two kept up momentum to score over 30 runs from final two overs to eventually cross over to victory.
Jonny Bairstow
Jonny Bairstow made an impactful return after an underwhelming opening to the season against Kolkata. The England cricketer played with power and grace, smashing eight sixes during an extraordinary unbeaten 108-ball innings for Punjab against KKR at Eden Gardens on Friday. Thanks to Jonny’s incredible innings, Punjab set an unprecedented highest successful run chase in T20 history against them by eight wickets!
David Warner and Manish Pandey shared an impressive 67-run partnership for the third wicket in just 11 balls as Sunrisers Hyderabad eased past their target of 188 runs with ease, but it wasn’t enough to avoid defeat and remain second on the points table.
Bairstow’s breathtaking first half century dominated the first half of this match and demonstrated why he is one of the premier batsmen in world cricket. His approach was relentless; timing every ball with perfection. He hit four sixes off Anukul Roy in just the sixth over and was only denied his maiden fifty when dropped by Andre Russell during the final over.
Once he found his groove, England international Liam Plunkett took no time in hitting five fours and three sixes off Varun Chakravarthy to pass 50 in just 23 balls and share a 93-run partnership with Manish Pandey that resulted in his sixth IPL fifty so far this season.
Phil Salt and Sunil Narine put on an outstanding power-hitting display at Eden Gardens to lead their side to an imposing total, hitting respective scores of 75 off 37 balls for Salt while Narine hit an unbeaten 38-ball 71 with six sixes and nine fours off just 38 deliveries from Narine. Both batsmen were well supported by Venkatesh Iyer’s 39-run cameo as well as captain Shreyas Iyer’s 62-ball 88 not out from Shreyas Iyer.
Vaibhav Arora
Vaibhav Arora’s debut is an extraordinary tale this season. After suffering several crushing disappointments in his cricketing career, the youngster almost gave up but was rallied back by coach Ravi Verma and now stands a chance at making India’s World Cup team 2024 squad.
Young pacer with the ability to swing both ways. He made his domestic debuts for Himachal Pradesh across three formats in 2019, impressing with his ability to pick up wickets quickly. Following this performance, the KKR management purchased him at their 2021 mini auction for Rs 20 lakh – since when his performance has flourished under bowling coach Bharat Arun’s tutelage.
Arora is an exceptional tall striker who can extract maximum bounce from the pitch and is adept at using short balls effectively. In his first over against DC he displayed this talent when he used one aimed directly at Shai Hope’s head to dislodge him off his stumps – something Mitchell Starc could never achieve with such an extraordinary delivery that left Hope stunned and staring at his shoes in shock!
After conceding 262 runs against Punjab in their previous match, KKR’s bowlers put in an outstanding performance against Delhi, restricting them to only 153. Arora played an instrumental part in this victory. He noted the team had shown remarkable resilience after conceding so many runs while being down so badly; adding that he felt grateful that he played an integral part. Looking ahead, Arora expressed delight over helping them clinch it; looking forward to his next challenge and game day experience.
Harshit Rana
Harshit Rana was an amazing find for Kolkata Knight Riders last season, playing an integral role in their triumphant title win. Hailing from Delhi, this fast bowler boasted of express pace that hit hard and clever variations to add variety in his arsenal. India quickly included him into their T20I squad against Zimbabwe in July as well as their three-match ODI tour against Sri Lanka earlier this month but failed to take part due to injury or suspension.
Even without international recognition, Rana still looks set for success on the domestic circuit and is quickly making his presence known in India’s Ranji Trophy and List A competitions. In 2022-23 Ranji Trophy draft selection and later first class and List A debuts he demonstrated his versatility with both bat and ball.
Rana first gained recognition through his performance in the 2024 IPL. Since then he has continued to impress with his wicket-taking abilities and breakthrough creation – something his performances in recent matches has lent credence to as they demonstrate why Rana should receive an India call-up.
Rana was acquired by KKR for four crore at the IPL auction, and could soon make his T20I debut. Along with Mayank Yadav and Nitish Kumar Reddy, their prices should significantly increase at this year’s auction; should any make their international debuts, KKR must decide how best to handle them should that occur.
Heinrich Klaasen
Heinrich Klaasen can alter the course of any game with his brilliant innings. He can swing the ball with great power and hit massive sixes; his performance against Kolkata Knight Riders was remarkable and Sunrisers Hyderabad retained him for an enormous fee to use him in IPL 2025.
After the match, AB de Villiers applauded Chris Gayle’s remarkable 63 in 29 balls innings that gave SRH much-needed explosiveness at the crease as they chased down their 209 run target.
Not afraid of going after the bowlers, he was unflinching in attacking their bowling attack, hitting sixes at every opportunity and striking three fours as well as an enormous towering slog-sweep over long on for 208/6 in 9 overs – including an incredible record 81-run partnership with Ramandeep Singh to see his team home!
Sunil Narine scored their first wicket as Jaydev Unadkat got an inside edge off Starc and was caught at long-on for 14 runs off 12 balls. Later he grabbed another one when taking an edge from Markande and picking up a catch at square leg – adding two wickets to their total!
KKR were not done yet as they still needed 60 runs off the final over. Heinrich Klaasen took charge, hitting an explosive six off Chakravarthy’s penultimate over and nearly hitting half century until Suyash Sharma got an edge at short third man for 8. That victory gave KKR two points and secured them a place in semi-finals.
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