Eoin Morgan 'delighted' as KKR edge past SRH to add first two points in IPL 2021 campaign

Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Eoin Morgan was a very delighted man after his team got the better of Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL 2021 season opener at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday. KKR held their nerves to register a close win by 10 runs.

'Delighted': Eoin Morgan

"Delighted. The build-up to the tournament has been pretty good. In the camp that we had pre-tournament, the guys gelled well. Never quite sure what performance they will produce. Today was quite magnificent the way the guys batted. Guys at the top of the order-  Nitish and Tripathi were absolutely outstanding and set up the game for our middle order to play in the manner we want to play. Certainly the bowling, we couldn't have asked for a better start. Chopped and changed a bit in the powerplay. Huge amount of structure that goes into the decisions on the field", said Morgan during the post-match interview.

"Bhajji starting really well in the first over and then not playing a part but using his experience to get around the guys in the game shows the selflessness in the side. Nice to start like this it's obviously a long tournament. We were very happy with the score. We thought if we bowled half-decently we should get over the line", he added.

KKR start their campaign with a win

Kolkata who were asked to bat first after Hyderabad skipper David Warner won the toss ended up posting a challenging total of 187/6 from their 20 overs riding on stellar half-centuries from opener Nitish Rana (80), and, number three batsman Rahul Tripathi (53).

In reply, SRH were reduced to 10/2 in the third over after losing the prized wickets of skipper David Warner, and, wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha before Jonny Bairstow (55), and, Manish Pandey resurrected their innings with a 92-run stand for the third wicket before the former was dismissed. Pandey continued to soldier on for the 2016 champions but unfortunately, he did not receive much support from the other end as Kolkata bowlers bowled well and chipped in with a few important wickets. 

In the end, Pandey remained unbeaten on 61 as the Orange Army was restricted to 177/5 from their 20 overs and KKR ended up adding the first two points in their tally.

(Image Courtesy: @IPL/Twitter)