Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) were not exactly the favourites going into this IPL 2025 game against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Eden Gardens. But the defending champions performed like heavyweights to inflict a massive, 80-run defeat on the losing finalists of the previous year.
SRH were not in the game once they conceded 200 on a pitch that not many thought would facilitate big scoring. The hard-hitters lost Travis Head in the first over, Abhishek Sharma in the second and Ishan Kishan in the third. It could well have been four down by the third over had Andre Russell not dropped a sitter. After that, it was game over, despite taking into account SRH’s heavy artillery.
Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana bowled their hearts out with the new ball and delivered a high number of dot balls in the Powerplay. They made the ball slant away from the left-handers of SRH and used the slower delivery to great effect. SRH were never in the chase and slumped to a third defeat in four matches. KKR moved up from the bottom, with two wins from four outings.
The match was set up by the middle order of KKR. The openers were gone by the third over and after that, there were two solid partnerships — the first between Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi and then between Venkatesh Iyer and Rinku Singh. Runs came at a rapid clip during the course of the second one and that took the game away from SRH.
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Venkatesh was a batter possessed. The most expensive buy for his franchise, he tore into the attack towards the end and struck fours and sixes almost at will. It was total carnage, to which the team led by Pat Cummins had no answer. The last five overs fetched 78 runs and Cummins the bowler was not spared either. Venkatesh took him to the cleaners.
Rahane was the first one to cut loose and revive the innings after the early losses. He was unafraid to go after the bowlers and made 38 off 27 balls. It was not a huge contribution, but just what his team needed. Raghuvanshi overcame a series of scores in the 20s to post his second IPL half-century. He batted elegantly and struck 50 off 32.
The real impetus to the KKR innings came from Venkatesh and Rinku. For a brief period, whatever they touched raced away to the boundary. Quiet for some time, Rinku smashed an unbeaten 32 off 17 balls. But, the real damage was done by Venkatesh, who hit 60 off 29. There was no stopping him towards the end when he went berserk.
A target of 201 to win was always going to be difficult, even for a formidable batting force like SRH. Impact Sub Arora and Varun Chakravarthy finished with three wickets each and helped their team improve their net run rate thanks to the 80-run win. After this, KKR will breathe easy and for SRH, the road forward will only get more complicated.
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