KKR 200/6 in 20 Overs [Venkatesh Iyer 60(29), Angkrish Raghuvanshi 50(32); Mohammed Shami 1/29 in 4 Overs] beat SRH 120/10 in 16.4 Overs [Heinrich Klaasen 33(21); Varun Chakaravarthy 3/22 in 4 Overs, Vaibhav Arora 3/29 in 4 Overs] by 80 runs

In a much-anticipated rematch of the last year’s final the Kolkata Knight Riders clashed against the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the iconic Eden Gardens. The home team were gunning to take the field and turn things around for themselves. With a great head-to-head record vs SRH, the Knights backed themselves to put on a strong performance. The fans were all set to get behind their side and cheer to the fullest.

KKR were put into bat first after losing the toss on a pitch which had quite the surprises in store. The start wasn’t the best for the home side as they lost both their openers cheaply with SRH taking momentum early in the game. However, the ever impressive Angkrish Raghuvanshi alongside his skipper Ajinkya Rahane laid out the counterpunch while stabilising the things. Both played exquisite strokes mixing caution with aggression as they put up a solid 81 run partnership. Youngster Angkrish blazed his way to a half century as he took the lead to take KKR to a big total. As they looked set towards putting on a big total, KKR were rocked with a double-wicket blow as both set batters got out in quick succession. SRH looked to wrestle the momentum in their way but vice captain Venkatesh Iyer and Rinku Singh had other plans. Iyer blasted the SRH bowlers to all parts of the ground as his late overs blitz helped KKR to get back on track. Both batters didn’t allow any breathing space to the SRH bowlers and dominated proceedings right till the last ball of the innings. Venkatesh’s knock of 60 off just 29 balls with a whopping strike rate of 206 and Rinku’s cameo of 32, powered KKR to a big total of 200. It was over to the bowlers now to defend this total and help KKR pick up the victory

It was an absolute dream start in the second innings for KKR, as Vaibhav Arora dismissed the dangerous Travis Head on the second ball of the innings. Immediately in the next over, Harshit Rana got rid of Abhishek Sharma and sent both the openers back in the hut. KKR applied immense pressure over the SRH batters as they reduced them to 9/3 chasing such a big total. KKR took complete control of the game after the powerplay as SRH’s wickets kept tumbling. The spinners came into the party to apply the chokehold on the run-chase. Kamindu Mendis and Heinrich Klaasen put up a fight but Narine was able to fox Mendis with his mystery. Vaibhav Arora landed the final nail in the coffin as he dismissed Klaasen with an excellent delivery. Through such an incredible bowling performance, KKR bowled out SRH for just 120 runs capping off a massive 80 run victory. A complete all-round performance from KKR will help them boost their confidence immensely and they will be aiming to continue this momentum in the future games to come.