IPL 2023, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) vs Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Top Performances: Nitish Rana-Rinku Singh's 61-run stand, Aiden Markram-Heinrich Klaasen’s 70-run stand and Shardul Thakur's 2-23 are the top performances. KKR beat SRH by 5 runs and move to 8th place.
Brief Scores: KKR 171/9 (Rana 42, Rinku 46, Jansen 2-24) beat SRH 166/8 (Klaasen 36, Markram 41, Thakur 2/23) beat by 5 runs.
Player Of The Match: Varun Chakravarthy (1-20)
Sunrisers Hyderabad play host to the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium. The return fixture saw SRH coming on top thanks to a splendid century by Harry Brook.
However here, KKR took revenge in a closely contested match as they won the thriller by 5 runs.
Both teams are floundering at the bottom with just two wins under their belts, and a loss here for either team will be almost the end of this season.
KKR’s Nitish Rana won the coin toss and opted to bat first with Jason Roy coming back to the team. For SRH, Marco Jansen makes a comeback while Kartik Tyagi plays his first game of the season.
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SRH With Their Dream Start But Still Lose
Opting to bat first would have seemed to be a bad decision for Nitish Rana as KKR lost Gurbaz and Iyer in the very 2nd over to Jansen. Inform Jason Roy too perished to Tyagi for 20 as the visitors lost 3 wickets in the powerplays making 49 runs. But Rinku and Rana counter-attacked adding 41 runs in the next 4 overs, but Markram ended their 59-run standoff 42 balls when he removed Rana for 42.
Russell smashed spinners for a couple of sixes and his 15-ball 24 gave innings some momentum but Markande accounted for him. Rinku’s 46 and some useful lower-order contributions took the KKR score to 171/9.
For SRH it was the similar territory with the top-order batting as a decent start was followed by a flurry of wickets in the powerplays. In the first 7 overs, they lost 4 of them with only 54 on the board. But the initially cautious Markram and the exciting Heinrich Klaasen combined to put pressure back on KKR bowlers in their 49-ball 70-run stand for the 5th wicket.
SRH skipper Markram (41) fell to Vaibhav Arora as did Marco Jansen and this happened in quick succession, and this took the game close than it was expected.
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Talking points; The Poor Batting from SRH top Order
SRH’s batting especially the top order continues to remain a cause of worry. The likes of Tripathy and Mayank are yet to fire while the constant chopping and changing batting order is not helping the cause either. Markram and Klaasen are the only shining light at the moment for SRH.
Let us scan the key performances of the SRH-KKR game of IPL 2023
Rinku-Rana stands to propel KKR to a winning total
Nitish Rana once again played a key role in KKR’s batting revival just as he did in the reverse fixture against the SRH. This time the impressive Rinku Singh joined him. After being down at 35/3 at one stage, KKR reached 171/9 and they should be thankful for the 61-run stand between the left-handed batting duo of Rana and Rinku. They attacked at the right moment, and it gave the innings much-needed impetus.
Shardul Thakur chips in with crucial wickets
Shardul Thakur didn’t feature in KKR’s recent matches, and it came as quite a surprise to many as he has the knack of making things happen out of nowhere. Earlier in the league, he changed the game with his bat and in this game; it was his bowling that made the difference.
He first dismissed the opener, Abhishek Sharma who made 67 not so long ago in his very first over, thus playing a key role in reducing SRH to 54/3 in the power plays. Just when the Klaasen-Markram partnership threatened an early finish, Thakur’s introduction to the attack turned the tables in KKR’s favor as he dismissed Klaasen for 36. From needing 48 off 36 balls with 6 wickets in the hut, SRH succumbed to a 5-run defeat after Klaasen’s wicket.
Aiden Markram and Klaasen inject much-needed momentum into the SRH run-chase
When Heinrich Klaasen joined Aiden Markram at the crease, SRH were in a spot of both losing 4 wickets in the 8th over with only 54 runs on the board. But the Proteas keeper Klaasen was at his best as he maneuvered KKR bowlers with great ease. He was quick to get off the blocks and his positive intent allowed Markram to take some time initially before getting into the act himself.
The overs 11 to 14 yielded them 49 runs as SRH moved from being at precarious 54/4 at one stage to be within touching distance at 124/5 at the start of the 15th over. Klaasen perished at last but not before making an impactful 20-ball 36.
What's Next and Points table
SRH with this defeat are hanging on a thin thread and desperately need consecutive wins to resurrect their campaign. They travel to Jaipur next on May 6th while KKR host Punjab next on 8th May.
IPL 2023 Points Table
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