KNIGHTS RIDE OVER SUNRISERS TO FINAL

Pacer Starc strikes thrice before Shreyas & Venkatesh guide Kolkata home SUNRISERS Hyderabad had reached the IPL playoffs largely because of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, their explosive openers.

-  FIROZ MIRZA

They have been the primary reason why the 2016 champions set as well as erased multiple batting records.

The deadly duo held the key as Hyderabad took on Kolkata Knight Riders in the Qualifier 1 here at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday. It all started with the coin flipping SRH's way and their skipper Pat Cummins opting to bat first. It again put the onus on his openers to give the team a flying start. He was right as a good and brisk opening partnership could have swung the game in Hyderabad's favour given the fact that the contest was a chance to earn a direct ticket to the final. "We haven't played a final for a couple of years, so the players are pretty excited," said Cummins after the toss. But as the saying goes, 'man proposes, God disposes', the Cummins-led side was served a big jolt when KKR pacer Mitchell Starc castled Head off the very second ball of the innings. It was the second successive duck for the left-hand Aussie batter as a length ball from his compatriot Starc, which shaped away slightly, rattled his stumps.