In a nail-biting IPL match at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) secured a thrilling 5-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), thanks to a fantastic performance by spinner Varun Chakravarthy who held his nerve to defend nine runs in the final over. KKR, who posted 171/9 on the board, rode on the back of Nitish Rana's 42 off 31 and Rinku Singh's 46 off 35. SRH seemed to struggle to execute their plans and lost their rhythm after the middle overs, resulting in a loss in another game at home.
KKR's victory in this crucial match has kept their qualification hopes alive with their fourth win in ten games this season. After winning the toss, KKR opted to bat first, but they had a slow start and lost two quick wickets in the first couple of overs. Later, they lost the set batter, Anukul Roy, who threatened with a few boundaries, and the visitors ended the powerplay at 49/3.
While SRH continued with tight bowling, Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh got into the rebuilding act and found big hits in between to keep the scoreboard ticking, going on to score 61 off 40 balls before a brilliant caught and bowled by SRH skipper Aiden Markram ended KKR skipper's stay on the crease. Then, SRH lost two wickets in quick succession in the form of Andre Russell and Sunil Narine.
Mayank Markane removed Russell in the 15th over for 24, and half of the KKR side headed back to the hut in 15 overs. Soon after, Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Narine, who was beaten by the lack of pace and chipped it towards extra cover where Mayank Agarwal ran to his left to complete an easy catch.
Shardul Thakur slashed straight at deep point off the bowling of T. Natarajan for a big one, but Abdul Samad completed a simple catch, and it was all on Rinku to give KKR the big finish. Impact player Anukul Roy came in and smashed two successive boundaries in the 19th over to add crucial runs to the board.
Chasing 172, SRH opening duo Abhishek Sharma and Mayank Agarwal got off to a solid start before Hyderabad managed to draw first blood, with Harshit Rana dismissing Agarwal in the third over. Agarwal went for a pull but got beaten by the extra pace, and he gloved the ball toward the keeper, and Rahmanullah Gurbaz had the easy one. Shardul Thakur joined the party in the next over as he removed Abhishek cheaply for 9, reducing SRH to 37/2.
Rahul Tripathi took Andre Russell to the cleaners in the sixth over as he got 4,6,4 before falling on the next ball. Tripathi tried to ramp it over the fine leg boundary but holed out to the deep fielder, and Vaibhav Arora took a fine catch. KKR reached 53/3 at the end of the powerplay.
The next over, Anukul Roy trapped Harry Brooks lbw for a duck. KKR kept SRH at bay with an impressive bowling show as the hosts went boundary-less in the next three overs and were reeling at 75/4 in 10 overs. Then, Heinrich Klassen and skipper Aiden Markram shifted gears, and the duo stitched
Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 171/9 in 20 overs (Nitish Rana 42 off 31, Rinku Singh 46 off 35; Marco Jansen 2/24, T Natarajan 2/30) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (Aiden Markram 41 off 40, Heinrich Klaasen 36 off 20; Shardul Thakur 2/23, Vaibhav Arora 2/32) by 5 runs.