Ahmedabad (Gujarat), India, May 22 (ANI): Kolkata Knight Riders’ wicketkeeper-batsman Rahamanullah Gurbaz said that his mother is still recovering in the hospital.”

Gurbaz played a quickfire inning of 23 runs off 14 balls with a strike rate of 164.29 during Kolkata Knight Riders’ match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday.”

Before this, the right-handed hitter hadn’t participated in any match for KKR this season due to the success of Salt and Sunil Narine at the top of the order, and the match against the franchise from Hyderabad in the playoffs was his first match. IPL 2024.

While chasing, Sunrisers Hyderabad decided to bat first. After stumbling to 39/4 following an incredible powerplay spell by Mitchell Starc, a partnership of 62 runs between Rahul Tripathi (55 runs off 35 balls with seven fours and one six) and Heinrich Klaasen (32 runs off 21 balls with three fours and one six) helped SRH cross the 100-run mark. However, SRH kept losing wickets as Kolkata Knight Riders managed to keep the pressure on. Captain Mitchell Starc’s late cameo (30 runs off 24 balls with two fours and two sixes) steered SRH to a respectable score of 159 runs in 19.3 overs.

For KKR, Stark was the standout bowler, taking three wickets for 34 runs in four overs, once again leaving a mark in crucial matches. Varun Chakravarthy also impressed, conceding 26 runs and taking two wickets in his four overs. Vaibhav Arora, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, and Vaibhav Arora each picked up a wicket as well.

Chasing the target of 160 runs, the opening partnership between Rahmanullah Gurbaz (23 runs off 14 balls with two fours and two sixes) and Sunil Narine (21 runs off 16 balls with four fours) provided KKR a solid platform with 44 runs. Captain Shreyas Iyer (58* off 24 balls with five fours and four sixes) and Venkatesh Iyer (51* off 28 balls with five fours and four sixes) entertained with aggressive half-centuries, mocking SRH’s bowling and run-chase. With eight wickets in hand and 38 balls remaining, they secured victory.

With this win, KKR has secured a spot directly in the final, while SRH gets another chance in the title race and will play against the winner of the Eliminator match between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Qualifier Two. It’s happening on Wednesday.