Live blog - KKR vs SRH, Markram, Tripathi turn it on for Sunrisers

Player Of The Match

64* (25) & 2/25

Heinrich Klaasen of Sunrisers Hyderabad very nearly stole victory away from the home side at Eden Gardens on Saturday, but 22-year-old Harshit Rana successfully defended 12 off the final over to take Kolkata Knight Riders over the line in a last-ball thriller.

Needing 13 off the final over and with momentum on their side, Sunrisers had a dream start to the 20th over when Klaasen pulled Harshit for six over square leg. But he followed it up with two singles, two wickets and one dot in the next five balls to seal the deal.

Earlier, it was Sunil Narine's 1 for 19 in four overs on a batting-friendly surface - that included zero boundaries - which kept Sunrisers quiet through the middle overs. His economy of 4.75 was a complete outlier on a surface where bowlers, whether experienced or not, went for aplenty. That had given KKR the upper hand with three overs to go and Sunrisers needing 60 in 18 balls. But Klaasen's 29-ball 63, laced with eight sixes, dragged Sunrisers back into the contest.

KKR also had Andre Russell, Phil Salt and Ramandeep Singh to thank. From a position of 51 for 4 in the first innings, KKR rebuilt courtesy Salt's 40-ball 54 on KKR debut and a 17-ball 35 from Ramandeep Singh. Russell put the finishing touches to the KKR innings by smacking seven sixes in his 25-ball unbeaten 64.

Catch the full report on the website soon!

Cummins cannot connect off the final ball and Harshit Rana, only 22, has pulled off one of the great final-over defenses. Went for six off the first ball but then came back strongly. Slowed his pace down and Kolkata Knight Riders win by four wickets!

A stunning encounter over here at the Eden. Time for a breather.

With five runs needed in two balls, Harshit bowls a slower ball on a good length, and Klaasen edged it towards short third. But Suyash has to run behind, tracking the ball from over his shoulder, and he completes a terrific tumbling catch. Gone 63 in 29 and that means Pat Cummins needs 5 in 1 ball to take SRH home.

Young Harshit Rana gets the responsibility of defending 12, and starts off by conceding a six off Klaasen. But a single next ball later, Shahbaz holes out at long on for his cameo of 16 in 5 balls. That means Klaasen is still off strike with Jansen taking guard.

Sunrisers need 6 off 3

Two sixes in the previous Varun oer, and this time Klaasen follows it up with two more sixes off Varun in the 18th over. An insurmountable target is suddenly looking gettable with Sunrisers needing 40 off 15 balls.

The 17th over, too, was expensive, with Samad hitting Russell for four and six. Even though Russell dismissed Samad in that over, the 17th went for 16 runs.

Now with Varun's over eventually going for 21 runs, Sunrisers need 39 in 12 balls with Shahbaz alongside Klaasen. Varun concedes 55.

Heinrich Klaasen has been the best player in all T20s since 2023. He has a strike rate of 189.5 v spin in the timeline, the best of all batters to have scored 350+ runs v spin. He is also a great starter, having never been dismissed in the first ten balls in IPL 2023 and neither tonight.

He's taken a liking to Varun by clubbing him for two sixes to keep Sunrisers in the hunt. But otherwise he has not been timing it very well and the required run-rate has suddenly ballooned.

Sunrisers need 78 in 27 balls with Klaasen on 20 in 15 balls and Samad on 3 in 6 balls

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Nelson has struck. Tripathi tries to slog sweep Narine over the leg side but the ball isn't full enough. The shot goes straight to deep square leg and Narine finally gets Tripathi, if only on the third attempt. Narine failed to get Tripathi with a dropped catch and a non-review, but this time Harshit on the boundary makes no mistake. Wickets from both ends from the KKR spinners and Sunrisers slide to 111/4 in 13 overs.

The wicket was truly well deserved for Narine, who bowled four overs without conceding a single boundary tonight. He also comes close to getting Samad LBW in the final ball of his spell, but DRS is not on his side this time. Narine finishes with 1/19 at an economy of 4.75.

Varun hasn't been bowling it very full, and the one time he does he tempts Markram to slog across the line. Taken by Rinku sliding forward in the deep and that's some reward for KKR for their spinners' good spells.

That brings in Heinrich Klaasen as Sunrisers need 98 in 45 balls

The first ball of the 11th over sees Tripathi missing a flick off Narine's offbreak delivery. They were a faint appeal from Salt but Narine was not interested. Three balls later, replays show Tripathi as LBW had KKR reviewed. Narine with a gentle smile as he walks back to delivery another ball. A second wicket goes amiss for Karine as he finishes his third over with figures of 0/16. Remember he had a chance in the previous over too when Varun dropped Tripathi off Narine.

Sunrisers 105/2 in 11 overs

At a two-ball five, Tripathi miscues a slog sweep against Narine, and Varun makes a mess of a catch running in from deep square leg. He did get to the ball but it didn't stick. Even Russell looked frustrated in the reaction clip.

That's a shame for Narine who has bowled extremely well, mostly on a good length and getting the ball to turn in both directions. Narine is 0/10 in two overs and Sunrisers are 85/2 in nine overs

Some scintillating shots from Agarwal off Starc and Rana - drives through cover and ramps behind point - have given Sunrisers a run-rate of 10 after four overs. That prompts Shreyas Iyer to go for spin for the first time, and Varun begins the fifth against Abhishek.

The first ball very nearly sees Abhishek stumped and the second ball is very nearly caught at backward point. Abhishek lives dangerously in his first two balls. But on the third ball, he clubs Varun for six through cow corner and the team fifty comes in 4.3 overs.

Abhishek ends the over with another six over long on, smacking it against the turn, and that proves to be an expensive fifth.

Harshit Rana shares the new ball with Agarwal and very nearly gets the opener lbw in the second over. But Agarwal reviews and the delivery appears to shape down the leg side.

Agarwal has looked the more enterprising opener so far, especially against Starc. His three boundaries have ensured Sunrisers are 27/0 in three overs with Starc conceding 22 in his first two overs.

Abhishek's been a powerplay pinch-hitter who SRH have enjoyed great success with. In fact, such is Abhishek's range of strokes, that in hindsight, he may take offence to being called just a pinch-hitter. He has 16 T20 fifties and will open alongside Mayank Agarwal.

T Natarajan is the man subbed out. Starc to open the bowling. Agarwal takes strike.

In the last 12 months, no batter had hit sixes as frequently as Andre Russell (6.1 balls per six). Heinrich Klaasen (7.2) is second.

And Russell has taken a liking to Markande in his final over. Pummels him for three sixes in the 16th over but Russell mistimes a shot to long off in the final ball and Markram dives forward at long off to take a low catch.

But is it out? Not conclusive. And the smart replay quickly tells us that's not out. So Russell gets a second life and Markande finishes his spell for 2/39.

However, that expensive over gives KKR the momentum as the umpires call for a second time out. KKR 141/6 in 16

Remember, he wasn't picked at the auction despite hitting one terrific T20I century in the West Indies followed up by another. He was disappointed back then and it was a bold move from KKR to select him over Gurbaz. Reaches his fifty in 38 balls, but then falls trying to accelerate. Out off Markande at cow corner trying to slog, with equal contribution from Jansen diving.

A promising innings from Salt tonight, finishing on 54 off 40. Markande continues to impress with his wicket-taking in the middle phase. But Sunrisers don't get a breather, because Rinku is joined by Andre Russell.

KKR 119/6 in 14 overs

Remember what the pitch report told us. Even 200 won't be safe, the broadcasters said. But KKR are going at around 7 per over at the midway stage, and Markande is getting the ball to zip and turn .

ESPNcricinfo's forecaster suggests KKR should finish at around 177. They have plenty of power at the back end, so KKR would want way more. Ramandeep Singh for now is making up for Salt's slowness by playing strong shots off the back foot. He doesn't mind attacking the short ball and has pulled twice for a four (off the helmet) and a six (behind square). He has then pumped a loose Markande ball over long on to get 20 runs in his first seven balls.

KKR 77/4 in 10 overs but Salt (40 off 30) thwackes Jansen for a drive through cover to begin the 11th.

Well, we have an answer with Sunrisers winning the toss and choosing to field. Cummins goes with three South Africans, with Heinrich Klaasen the no-brainer pick, followed by a retention in the XI for Markram. The fourth is Marco Jansen, the left-arm seamer.

No space for Glenn Phillips, Travis Head, or Fazalhaq Farooqi. Haven't spotted Hasaranga yet, so not sure he's here. Interestingly, Washington, Umran and Abhishek Sharma are all on the bench. Just been told this is also Cummins' first game as a T20 captain, not just in the IPL but in all cricket.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Rahul Tripathi, 3 Aiden Markram, 4 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 5 Abdul Samad, 6 Shahbaz Ahmed, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Mayank Markande, 11 T Natarajan. The impact-sub options are Reddy, Washington, Malik, Phillips and Abhishek.

As for KKR, Iyer is captaining, so he has recovered from a back spasm. Phil Salt gets a cap right away, walking into the XI after coming in as a late replacement for Jason Roy. Last I checked, he was the World No. 2 T20I batter, and this was expected after he hit two half-centuries in two practice games between KKR squads. They've also got space for Ramandeep Singh at No. 6, with Suyash on the bench for now.

As it stands, Venkatesh Iyer will open alongside Salt, with Gurbaz missing out. Last season they used eight different opening pairs and since 2022 have been looking for a twosome that would deliver from both sides. In 28 matches since 2022, KKR’s openers have scored only 969 runs at an average of 17.6 – the lowest for any team.

Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Venkatesh Iyer, 2 Phil Salt (wk), 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Rinku Singh, 5 Nitish Rana, 6 Sunil Narine, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Harshit Rana, 11 Varun Chakravarthy. The impact-sub options are Suyash, Pandey, Arora, Raghuvanshi and Gurbaz.

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- tremendous outfield - perfect conditions for cricket - slightly skewed at one end (62m vs 67m) - "I see a lot of runs", says Brian Lara. "Even 200 isn't safe."

That was interesting because we expected Gambhir and KKR to try and use home advantage to make a spin-friendly surface. They also have solid spinners in Narine, Varun, Suyash and Mujeeb. The pitch report didn't suggest much love for spin, correlating with what the curator has told the local media that he won't be doing anything different that specifically caters to the home's side strategies. This topic, by the way, has been a bone of contention between the franchise and the curator over the last few seasons even though the Eden Gardens was the most spin friendly venue during the ODI World Cup which had neutral curators. That said, Starc and Cummins would be licking their lips to bowl here under the lights. As would Jansen, who has been named in the Sunrisers XI now.

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Over 20 • SRH 204/7

KKR won by 4 runs

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