Agencies
Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan marked his return to the Kolkata Knight Riders in style, picking up a wicket off his very first ball against former team Sunrisers Hyderabad during an Indian Premier League match at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.
Shakib, who had missed the previous edition of the T20 extravaganza, owing to a ban over failure to report corrupt approach, was bought by Kolkata at the IPL 2021 auction in February for Rs 3.2 crore.
On Sunday, the World No. 2 T20I all-rounder started his spell on a high, removing SRH opener Wriddhiman Saha with a back-of-a-length delivery that the wicketkeeper-batsman chopped back onto his stumps.
Half-centuries from Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi set up Kolkata Knight Riders' 10-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2021 match at the M.A.Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday. Rana (80 off 56) and Tripathi (53 off 29) powered KKR to 187 for 6 in 20 overs. Shakib's who came into bat at number seven, fell in the last delivery of the innings after scoring 3 off five deliveries.
Captain David Warner did not fire for Sunrisers and he fell in the second over. In the third over, Sunrisers were 10 for 2 as Wriddhiman Saha chopped Shakib's delivery onto his stumps. Despite Shakib's great start with the ball, he however did not bag anymore wickets, finishing with 34 runs conceded for one wicket in his four overs.
Manish Pandey (61* off 44) and Jonny Bairstow (55 off 40) took SRH close. With 57 needed in the final four overs, all-rounder Andre Russell stymied the big hitters. Abdul Samad walloped two sixes off Pat Cummins in the penultimate over but in the end the 188-run target proved too much as Sunrisers reached 177 for five.