KKR vs SRH IPL 2023

Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 23 runs in high-scoring thriller

KKR vs SRH, IPL 2023; Harry Brook’s century helped Hyderabad post a mammoth 228/4 but Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh’s fifties got Kolkata close.

KKR vs SRH, IPL 2023 Highlights: Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and chose to bowl first and the Sunrisers Hyderabad then put on a show. Harry Brook led the way with an unbeaten 100 off 55 balls while captain Aiden Markram scored 50 in 26 and Abhishek Sharma smashed 32 off 17. Heinrich Klaasen also chipped in with an unbeaten 16 off six balls. For KKR, it was Andre Russell who was the highest wicket taker with three scalps but he had to be helped off the pitch after bowling the first ball of the third over. Given a target of 229 to chase, KKR have got off to a sluggish start to their chase and Venkatesh Iyer is trying to change that situation. While he couldn’t do much in that department, it is captain Nitish Rana who kept them alive alongwith Narayan Jagadeesan first and then Rinku Singh. Rana eventually fell after scoring 75 off 41 while Rinku remained unbeaten on 58 off 31. While the target ended up being a bit too much for KKR to chase, they managed to bring it down to the last two overs and ended their innings with a score of 205/7. 

All-rounder Abhishek Sharma, who replaced Washington Sundar in the XI for the game, smashed a 17-ball 32 to help the Sunrisers go past 200 and post the biggest total of the season so far.

With the momentum firmly on Hyderabad’s side, Kolkata needed a solid start if they were to pull off the highest-ever chase in the history of the IPL and collect a third win in a row. Bhuvneshwar Kumar though put them under pressure from the word go, removing attacking wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a three-ball duck, while Marco Jansen removed Venkatesh Iyer and Sunil Narine off successive deliveries to reduce KKR to 20/3.

Had it not been for Rana’s scintillating 75 off 41 — 28 runs of which came in a single Umran Malik over — as well as yet another special off Rinku’s (58 not out off 31) bat, the match would’ve been over long back. Instead, yet another match this season managed to go down to the very last over.

KKR vs SRH preview: Buoyed by their emphatic victory over Gujarat Titans, Kolkata Knight Riders will be eyeing a third win on the trot when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Friday.

Kolkata had earlier pulled off a stunning three-wicket victory over defending champions Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad with middle-order batter Rinku Singh smashing five sixes in a row off Yash Dayal’s bowling when 29 runs were needed in the final over. Rinku had also scored a valuable 46 in a whirlwind 103-run partnership with Shardul Thakur, who struck a 29-ball 68, in a winning effort against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The Sunrisers too enter this game on the back of a commanding victory — their first of the season — with the Orange Army having hammered Punjab Kings by eight wickets in a chase of 144 on home turf, and will be backing themselves to make it two wins in as many games.

Teams:

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Harry Brook, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram(c), Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Marco Jansen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, T Natarajan

Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), N Jagadeesan, Nitish Rana(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Suyash Sharma, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakaravarthy