Kolkata: Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders have once again defeated last year's finalist Sunrisers Hyderabad. KKR got an 80-run win at their home ground Eden Gardens. This is KKR's 5th consecutive win against Hyderabad in the IPL. Despite losing the wickets of both the openers in three overs, KKR's team managed to reach 200 runs. Hyderabad's brilliant batting lineup failed completely and was bowled out for 120 runs.
Venkatesh Iyer returns to form for KKR
The middle order of Kolkata Knight Riders finally returned to form and Venkatesh Iyer answered his critics by scoring a half-century in 25 balls. Angkrish Raghuvanshi also hit a fifty, due to which the host team was able to score 200 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad. KKR's new opening pair continued to struggle. Quinton de Kock (01) and Sunil Narayan (07) were dismissed cheaply. Earlier, Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and decided to bowl.
Rahane and Angkrish got out of trouble
Captain Ajinkya Rahane (38 runs in 27 balls) and Raghuvanshi (50 runs in 32 balls) laid the foundation for a big score. After two wickets fell for 16 runs in the third over, Rahane and Raghuvanshi handled the innings with an 81-run partnership. Zeeshan Ansari broke this partnership by getting Rahane caught by Heinrich Klaasen. 26-year-old Kamindu Mendis of Sri Lanka bowled with both hands in the same over for the first time in ICC history. He bowled Raghuvanshi with left-arm spin and then bowled off-spin to the left-handed batsman Rinku Singh.
78 runs scored in the last 5 overs
No boundary was hit for two overs but Iyer and Rinku brought the innings back on track. Iyer scored 60 runs in 29 balls with the help of seven fours and three sixes. Rinku scored an unbeaten 32 runs in 17 balls with four fours and a six. Rinku hit three consecutive fours to Harshal Patel while Iyer hit two consecutive fours to Simarjeet. Iyer hit three fours and a six to Cummins in the ninth over. KKR scored 200 runs for the first time this season. In the last five overs, its batsmen scored 78 runs.
Hyderabad's batting did not work.
In reply, Sunrisers were all out for 120 runs in 16.4 overs. Fast bowler Vaibhav Arora dismissed Travis Head (4) and Ishan Kishan (2) in two consecutive overs. He took three wickets for 29 runs in four overs. Harshit Rana took the wicket of Abhishek Sharma (2), then Sunrisers' score was three wickets for nine runs in the third over. Andre Russell and Sunil Narayan also took one wicket each. Sunrisers had lost five wickets for 66 runs in ten overs. After this, Varun Chakraborty took two wickets in two balls and sent the lower order packing. He took three wickets for 22 runs in four overs.
