KKR were 123/5 before Andre Russell went on a rampage at the start of the 16th over. The hosts had 200 up by the close of 19th over. Mayank Markande was welcomed with three sixes in the matter of five balls before Russell put Bhuvneshwar to the sword in his two remaining overs with three maximums and as many fours.
En route, he registered a 20-ball fifty to kick off the season on a high. Bhuvneshwar, who gave away just seven runs in his first two overs, eventually finished with 51/0 including a 26-run penultimate over as Russell ushered the Kolkata-based franchise past 200 – the first of IPL 2024. Natarajan managed to stymie the progress with an 8-run final over where he also accounted for Rinku Singh’s wicket on 23.
Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 208/7 in 20 overs (Andre Russell 64*, Phil Salt 54; T Natarajan 3-32, Mayank Markande 2-39) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 204/7 in 20 overs (Heinrich Klassen 63, , Harshit Rana 3-33, Andre Russell 2-25) by 4 runs
Aiden Markram & Rahul Tripathi taking on the challenge 👊#SRH 99/2 at the halfway point!
Follow the match ▶️https://t.co/xjNjyPa8V4 #TATAIPL | #KKRvSRH pic.twitter.com/1hTFhhla9K
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 23, 2024
