As soon as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Ajinkya Rahane announced the playing combination against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Manish Pandey and Sunil Narine created history.
To give a tough challenge to Sunrisers Hyderabad, KKR has made some changes in its playing eleven. He has included Manish Pandey in place of Ramandeep Singh and Finn Allen in place of Tim Seifert.
Manish Pandey achieved a rare record in league history
The KKR captain said, “We have got two changes. Finn Allen is back in place of Seifert and then Manish Pandey is playing his first match of this season in place of Ramandeep Singh.”
Manish Pandey is one of the few players who has been playing the Indian Premier League since its inaugural year in 2007/08. After making his IPL debut with Mumbai Indians, the middle-order batsman has played in every season. The experienced batsman has created history as he is also playing in the current IPL season.
According to statistics, at present there are only three players who have played at least one match in the 19 seasons of IPL. Along with Manish Pandey, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are the other two players who have made this record.
Sunil Narine overtook Andre Russell in men’s T20
KKR’s veteran player Sunil Narine has also made a record in his name. The 37-year-old West Indies spinner is now officially playing his 591st T20 match. Only Kieron Pollard has performed more than Sunil Narine in men’s T20. Narine has broken Andre Russell’s record in the record list.
Highest attendance in men’s T-20
735 – Kieron Pollard
591 – Sunil Narine*
590 – Andre Russell
582 – Dwayne Bravo
565 – David Miller
SRH won the toss and decided to bat first against KKR
Meanwhile, Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and decided to bowl first. At the time of writing, he scored 59 runs for one wicket in 5 overs. Karthik Tyagi dismissed Abhishek Sharma early in the innings.
At the time of the toss, the KKR captain revealed that since the Hyderabad pitch looked good for batting, they also planned to bat first if they won the toss. Before the SRH match, KKR had won two consecutive wins, and are confident of increasing their win tally by defeating SRH at their home.
“We also wanted to bat first. The break so far has really helped us as a team, reconnect and think about the things we did right and from an improvement perspective.”
“As I said in the last game too, it’s about winning those moments, small, little moments in this format. The game can change here and there within an over. It’s all about being present, being a little active and winning those moments. I think those breaks, so far, have definitely helped,” Ajinkya Rahane said.
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