Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday defeated title holders Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets via Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-truncated Indian Premier League Eliminator to set up a meeting against Mumbai Indians in Friday's Qualifier 2.
Opting to bowl first, KKR produced a disciplined bowling and fielding effort to first restrict Sunrisers to a modest 128 for seven and then overwhelmed the revised target of 48 with consummate ease with seven wickets in hand and fours deliveries remaining at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru.
After a rain delay of nearly three and half hours, the rain finally subsided and the target was revised to 48 off six overs.
Chasing the target, Chris Lynn made his intent clear right at the start, smashing Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a six in the very first over.
But two quick wickets in successive balls changed the complexion of the game.
Lynn edged Bhuvneshwar's next delivery on to Naman Ojha behind the stumps and then a ball later new man in Yusuf Pathan was run out by the bowler.
Robin Uthappa too didn't last long as he gave simple catch to Shikhar Dhawan at square-leg off Chris Jordan in the second over.
But, thereafter, skipper Gautam Gambhir (32 not out) took the onus on himself to guide his side home in the company of Ishant Jaggi (5 not out).
KKR overwhelmed the target with four balls to spare.
For Sunrisers, Jordan (1/9) and Bhuvneshwar (1/11) picked up a wicket each.
In a virtual semi-final, KKR will take on Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 2 in Bengaluru on Friday, with the winners progressing to the final, where they will play Rising Pune Supergiant in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Kolkata Knight Riders produced a disciplined bowling and fielding effort to restrict defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad to a modest 128 for seven in the IPL Eliminator, at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru.
Returning to the side after an injury lay-off, Nathan Coulter-Nile (3/20) impressed with the ball. He was ably supported by Umesh Yadav (2/21).
Sent into bat, it was struggle for Sunrisers from the onset as skipper David Warner (37) and Shikhar Dhawan (11) found the going tough against the KKR bowling attack on a slow pitch.
The slow scoring rate finally took a toll on Sunrisers as Dhawan perished in the second delivery of the fifth over.
Dhawan slashed at a good length delivery of Umesh only managing to balloon it to Robin Uthappa behind the stumps with the Sunrisers scoreboard reading 25 for one.
With the boundaries hard to come by, Warner finally broke the shackles in the ninth over clobbering Piyush Chawla's short delivery over midwicket boundary for a maximum.
New man Kane Williamson (24) showed his class as he smacked Coulter-Nile for a boundary and a huge six off consecutive balls to pick up 13 runs of the 10th over.
At the halfway stage, Sunrisers were 61 for one.
Warner didn't spare a single loose ball and clobbered a marginally short delivery from Sunil Narine way over the long on boundary but he still struggled to get the boundaries at a regular rate in the middle overs.
But just when the partnership between Warner and Williamson was looking dangerous, twin blows in consecutive overs rattled Sunrisers' innings.
First Williamson departed caught at extra cover by Suryakumar Yadav off Coulter-Nile while trying to lift the ball over the in-field and then in the next over dangerous Warner was cleaned up by Chawla.
The duo stitched 50 runs for the second wicket off 44 balls.
Yuvraj Singh (9) and Vijay Shankar (22) shared quick 24 runs of three overs for the fourth wicket before the former fell, caught by Chawla at deep backward square-leg off Umesh while trying to up the ante.
Coulter-Nile then struck twice in the 19th over, first removing Shankar and then Chris Jordan to make matters worse for Sunrisers.
Naman Ojha made a run-a-ball 16 before perishing in the final delivery of the innings, caught at short thirdman off Trent Boult.
