Kolkata Knight Riders have set their IPL campaign on the right foot this time with their first win this season against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Winning skipper Eoin Morgan following the match said that the team couldn’t have asked for a better start than this. KKR clinched the game against SRH by 10 runs on Sunday in Chennai.

Morgan’s team got an easy and delightful win against David Warner‘s SRH, KKR opener Nitish Rana‘s 80 runs and Rahul Tripathi’s fifty gave KKR the best start that one could have after losing the toss and being asked to bat. SRH made 177 runs for 5 wickets chasing the score of 188.

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Captain Morgan said at the post-match presentation that the team played it magnificently together. The top-order batsmen Nitish and Tripathi did their job, and the bowlers played their best too. 

Morgan added, “It was a tight game against a really tough side. Really happy with the start. We were very happy with our score, we thought if we bowled half decently well we should get over the line.”

He was very happy to have veteran bowler Harbhajan Singh onboard, he said that, “Bhajji starting really well in the first over and not playing a part after that but using his experience to guide the others just shows that.”

On the other hand, losing skipper Warner felt that they missed the game because of the ball. “I didn’t think there were that many runs in that wicket. They adapted really well,” he said. 

“And the way that we lost two early wickets but fought hard through Jonny and Manish, was good. If you over-pitched, it came on a little bit. They had some height in their bowling attack, it helped with the cross-seam balls.” The Australian said there would be good momentum going into the tournament with the batting.

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“But plenty of games to come. Four games at this venue so we should be getting used to this square.” Man of the match Rana said he backed himself and was looking to hit the balls if it was in his slot.

“I thought the ball was in my slot (first ball off Bhuvneshwar) and luckily I got a four,” said match winner Rana who scored 80 0ff 56 balls.

“My game-plan is always that if the ball is in my slot I’ll try to hit it. I was backing myself and looking to hit balls. I’ve been playing spin since childhood, so in a way, it’s in my blood.”