Kolkata: Gautam Gambhir won the toss and elected to bowl first in a must win encounter for Sunrisers Hyderabad in order to keep their chances alive to play in the eliminator. KKR on the other hand had everything to play for as a win by a good margin would mean that they will jump up to the second spot which will give them an incentive to play in the finals even if they lose the qualifier.

Morne Morkel took the new ball in front of a packed Eden Gardens and did not disappoint as he struck early on in the innings by dismissing the inform David Warner which was a big blow to Sunrisers Hyderabad. However Shikhar Dhawan and Naman Ojha continued to build a good partnership and kept the score board moving by hitting the odd boundary but it was never going to be enough.

Soon Ojha and Dhawan both departed in quick succession leaving Sunrisers in a spot of bother as the runs had dried up and Venugopal Rao added to the misery by playing a number of dot balls. Darren Sammy was the only hope for SRH and he was in his elements as he hit some lusty blows which took the team well past 150.

Sammy departed trying to up the ante and Anirudh Srikkanth and Jason Holder could do much as the Sunrisers Hyderabad only managed to put up 160 at the end of 20 overs which was never going to be enough in a pitch which was good for batting.

Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa were the two openers for Kolkata Knight Riders and by now it was clear that KKR had to get to the target in 15.2 overs in order to get past Chennai Super Kings and claim the No 2 spot in the points table which will enable them to play in the qualifiers. After a quiet start to the innings Gambhir took Holder to the cleaners but it was only for a brief period of time as he lost his wicket in the same over by chopping the ball onto his stumps giving Sunrisers their first break through.

Gambhir was soon followed by Manish Pandey to the pavilion and the target looked highly unlikely to be chased down in 15.2 overs. Robin Uthappa did his bit with the bat but unfortunately perished in looking for quick runs and it was left to Yusuf Pathan to take KKR home.

Pathan made his intentions clear right from the very first ball as he went for the big one but mistimed it and Anirudh Srikkanth dropped a sitter at deep-midwicket. It was all that Pathan needed as what followed after that was real carnage and all that can be seen was the ball flying to all parts of the ground. He brought up his fifty in just 15 balls which is the fastest in IPL history, getting past Adam Gilchrist who made it in 17 balls playing for Deccan Chargers in the year 2009.

Pathan went after each and every bowler of SRH and took 26 runs of Dale Steyn in one over which changed the match completely and had put KKR on the driver’s seat. Karan Sharma got the better off Pathan in his last over but by then it was too late and KKR were in touching distance of making it to the qualifiers.

Suryakumar Yadav finished it off in style as KKR made 161 in just 14.2 overs which also gives them a chance to play the first qualifier right in front of their home crown at Eden gardens. Pathan was the top scorer of the match by making 72 off 22 balls and Sunil Narine was the most economical bowler for KKR by giving away only 19 runs of his allotted 4 overs.