After Venkatesh Iyer engaged beast mode in the death overs, KKR bowlers operated well in tandem to outclass their opponents from last season’s final. Varun CV and Vaibhav Arora provided the star turn with three wickets each as SRH folded for 120 in the 17th over. With this 80-run pummeling – the biggest defeat margin for SRH, they have lost three games in a row and their Net Run Rate has taken a nasty beating.
What was the deciding factor?
SRH were behind the eight ball in all the phases but the chief determiner was their woeful start that saw three of their top-four falling. It left them playing catch-up in a tall chase, which then led to further decline. KKR also stumbled at the start but found a way to push back with a third-wicket partnership. The same wasn’t the case for the visitors.
Rahane, Raghuvanshi push on after KKR take early blows
Sunil Narine greeted Pat Cummins with a six over long on but the SRH captain nabbed Quinton de Kock with a canny plan – dig the ball in and invite pulls from the left-hander with Zeeshan Ansari stationed at deep square leg for a miscue. Mohammed Shami then dislodged the mercurial Narine with a shooter outside the off-stump as an edge was drawn. Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi then joined hands to salvage what remained of the PowerPlay, dispatching short balls behind square on the leg side.
Spinners keep a lid on the scoring rate in middle overs
Zeeshan Ansari bowled two penny-pinching overs before Raghuvanshi pressed on the accelerator in his third, however the leg spinner capped off that over with the wicket of Rahane. Raghuvanshi was nearly on his way back right after, only for Nitish Reddy to reprieve him at deep square leg off Simarjeet Singh in the 12th over. Raghuvanshi compiled a half-century but the drop didn’t cost SRH a great deal as Harshal made up for it with a stunner, charging in from deep backward point. That handed SRH’s ambidextrous spinner Kamindu Mendis his maiden IPL wicket. Venkatesh Iyer then hit his first six of the season moving into the death overs.
Venkatesh goes ballistic to thrust KKR to 200
After Venkatesh and Rinku Singh ransacked 12 off Shami, the latter got stuck into Harshal in the 17th over, fetching three successive fours. The left-handers swung for the hills and made solid connections, hitting 17 off Simarjeet next up. The explosiveness of Venkatesh kicked up a gear against Cummins as he brought up his second successive half-century (off 25 balls) against SRH – the last one transpiring in the final of 2024. He started the 20th over on a scintillating note but fell on the third delivery, courtesy a sharp catch right at long-on by Aniket Verma. KKR finished exactly on 200, with Andre Russell missing a short ball towards the end and being run out by the keeper.
Lighting up Eden Gardens with some fireworks 💥
Sit back and enjoy Rinku Singh and Venkatesh Iyer’s super striking 🍿👏
5⃣0⃣ up for Iyer in the process!
Updates ▶ https://t.co/jahSPzdeys#TATAIPL | #KKRvSRH | @KKRiders pic.twitter.com/AAAqnOsRy8
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 3, 2025
Rana, Arora dent Sunrisers Hyderabad in the chase
The two-paced nature of the surface spelt doom for Travis Head as he miscued a big hit that Harshit Rana caught to remove him on the second ball of the chase. Harshit then had Abhishek Sharma nicking to slip with a slower one in just the second over. To make matters worse for the men in orange, Vaibhav Arora soon sent Ishan Kishan packing to leave SRH crumbling at 9/3. Had Andre Russell not dropped a catch at mid-on to give Mendis a reprieve, Arora was destined for a double-wicket maiden. Nitish Reddy tried to fight fire with fire, looting 15 off Arora in the fifth over. Varun though closed out an impressive PowerPlay for KKR with a four-run over.
KKR spin attack compounds the worries for SRH
SRH’s downward spiral continued. Nitish found mid-on with his attempted loft to perish to Russell in the seventh over while Kamindu became Narine’s victim for a 20-ball 27. Varun, in keeping with recent history, was also hard to put away, as Aniket Verma succumbed to his mystery spin. Rahane bowled five unchanged overs of spin till the 12th, with SRH yielding just 33 at the cost of two wickets. Klaasen snapped the jinx in the 14th against Narine, by peeling off two big sixes, and had a bit of luck going for him when the umpire failed to recognize a slight under-edge and Rahane decided against the review. Arora returned to make sure that the misjudgment wasn’t a costly slip for KKR as he bounced out the South African to leave SRH reeling at 112/7.
Varun applies the finishing touches to a big win
Varun saw the back of Cummins and Simarjeet off consecutive deliveries and finished with brilliant figures of 3-22. Russell completed the jumbo victory in the 17th over with the wicket of Harshal.
