Kolkata Knight Riders 169 for 3 (Raghuvanshi 59, Rahane 43, Sakib 1-17) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 165 (Head 61, Kishan 42, Varun 3-36, Tyagi 2-30, Narine 2-31) by seven wickets
SRH’s Headstart
Narine’s opening over was a lot tighter. Bowling the primary over for less than the fourth time in his IPL profession, he saved Abhishek Sharma to 9 runs.
Head additionally lined up Cameron Inexperienced and went onto convey up his half-century off 22 balls. Kartik Tyagi bested Abhishek with a hard-length supply that was clocked at nearly 145kph, however Head maintained a excessive tempo, which was central to SRH passing 70 within the powerplay for the sixth time in ten innings on this IPL.
(Thriller) Spin to win
Head thumped Varun for 17 off 5 balls earlier than the thriller spinner hit again to have him holing out within the ninth over. Head’s dismissal triggered an irreparable SRH collapse. Varun proceeded to dismiss debutant R Smaran, who had are available for the unwell Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Aniket Verma.
As soon as the ball grew older, it wasn’t simple to hit by means of the road. However that did not cease SRH’s batters from staying true to their uber-aggressive philosophy. Each Smaran and Aniket fell whereas looking for the boundary or clear it.
After enduring a troublesome finish to the T20 World Cup and an equally robust begin to the IPL, Varun has discovered some kind, selecting up at the least two wickets in every of his final 4 video games.
Heinrich Klaasen began brightly for SRH, however a one-handed screamer from Rovman Powell, a bona fide contender for the catch of the season, stopped him on 11.
Narine then grew to become the primary abroad bowler – and third general after Yuzvendra Chahal and Bhuvneshwar Kumar – to 200 IPL wickets when he knocked over Salil Arora with a magnificence that drifted in and swerved away to hit the highest of off stump. In the identical over, Narine eliminated Ishan Kishan for 42 off 29 balls with a regulation offbreak, leaving them on 148 for 7 in 16 overs. SRH added 17 to their tally earlier than they had been bowled out for the primary time this season.
KKR scrap house
Finn Allen, who had changed his New Zealand compatriot Tim Seifert, got here out attacking within the chase, smacking Pat Cummins for 3 fours and two sixes. Cummins, nevertheless, had the final snicker, having Allen caught at deep midwicket with a supply that stopped within the pitch.
Allen’s early assault carried KKR to 71 within the powerplay – solely twice have they scored extra runs throughout this part in IPL 2026.
Rahane and Raghuvanshi might afford to sit down again and simply bunt the ball into the gaps. They solid an 84-run stand for the fourth wicket earlier than SRH’s Affect Participant Sakib Hussain bounced Rahane out for 43 off 36 balls. Left-arm wristspinner Shivang Kumar created one other opening by snagging Raghuvanshi with a flawed’un. Rinku Singh, nevertheless, received the job accomplished for KKR together with Inexperienced.
Deivarayan Muthu is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
