SRH vs KKR, IPL 2023: KKR prevail in death-overs battle vs SRH

HYDERABAD: Kolkata Knight Riders dished out a workmanlike performance in the crucial IPL game against Sunrisers Hyderabad to win by five runs.
With a lot riding on the outcome of the match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday, the hosts faltered for the second successive game, failing to chase down KKR’s 171/9.

At 37/2 in the fourth over and 53/3 in the sixth, the story looked a familiar SRH tale this season. But a 70-run stand for the fifth wicket between skipper Aiden Markram (41; 40b, 4x4) and Heinrich Klaasen (36; 20b, 4x1, 6x3) put the innings back on track.

The South African duo cut out all risks against the spin-heavy KKR attack — which had 12 overs between Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy — to bring down the equation to 96 runs from the last 10 overs.

Markram further brought it down to 38 from the last five but KKR tightened the screws in the final overs. Abdul Samad made it nine from the last over, but Chakravarthy (1/20) proved too good for him as SRH finished at 166/8, the last five overs yielding 32 runs.

The way KKR choked the SRH was similar to the way they fared earlier in the day after deciding to bat. It was left to skipper Nitish Rana (42; 31b, 4x3, 6x3) to do the repair job after being reduced to 35/3 inside five overs, thanks to Marco Jansen’s double strike in his first over.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz holed out to the first delivery he faced and Venkatesh Iyer gloved an intended hook soon after. Playing his first match of the season, Kartik Tyagi dismissed Roy.

But the skipper found an able ally in Rinku Singh (46; 35b, 4x4, 6x1) and the duo added 61 (40b) for the fourth wicket with sensible batting before skipper Aiden Markram came up a stunning catch off his own bowling – running backwards to mid-on – to get rid of his opposite number.

Andre Russell looked in good touch but his 31-run stand for the fifth wicket with Rinku was ended by Mayank Markande.