KKR players prefer the road to hotels

JAIPUR: Around half of the Kolkata Knight Riders team, which crashed out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator in New Delhi on Wednesday, had reached Jaipur on their way to the capital due to weather disturbances which caused their flight to be diverted.
But it was learnt that the King's men refused to stay in a city hotel which was offered to them by cricket officials of Rajasthan.Instead, the twice IPL champions chose to take the road in batches via taxis which were organised for them as per their wish.
A thunderstorm in Delhi on Monday was the reason for the flight diversion despite efforts made twice to land the aircraft in the capital itself.
Failing to bear fruit, they hit the Pink City which also experienced heavy downpour, bringing relief to the unprecedented heatwave that swept the city for several days.
The Gautam Gambhir-led side failed to pack a punch against the lesser fancied Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator played at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium. Sunrisers rode disciplined bowling and outstanding fielding to floor their rivals, who were chasing 163 for victory.
KKR were off to an identical start as Hyderabad, losing in-form opener Robin Uthappa (11) cheaply before skipper Gautam Gambhir (28) and all-rounder Colin Munroe (16) took the team to 46/1 in the powerplay.
Gambhir and Munroe batted sensibly to put on 38 runs for the second wicket before the New Zealander perished to a silly run out off a sensational throw from Yuvraj Singh.
Playing at his home ground, Gambhir failed to read the bounce of the Kotla track as he miscued a short delivery from Ben Cutting.
With KKR needing 99 from the last 10 overs, the team landed in further trouble as incoming batsman Yusuf Pathan (2) fell to a beautiful running catch from Bhuvneshwar Kumar off Moises Henriques.
Next in Manish Pandey (36) and Suryakumar Yadav (23) batted sensibly to take the team past the 100-run mark by the 14th over.