New Delhi. After stormy innings by Heinrich Klaasen (52), Abhishek Sharma (48) and Travis Head (46), on the basis of lethal bowling, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at home by 65 runs and registered their first win of the season. Hyderabad, who came to bat first after losing the toss, scored 226 runs for eight wickets in 20 overs in the match played at Eden Gardens on Thursday. In reply, Kolkata team could score only 161 runs in 16 overs and were all out. Angkrish Raghuvanshi played the highest innings of 52 runs for them. Whereas, from Hyderabad side, Jaydev Unadkat took three wickets while Ishan Malinga and Nitish Kumar Reddy got two wickets each. Apart from this, Harsh Dubey took one wicket in his name.

KKR lost its second consecutive match

KKR has lost two consecutive opening matches for the first time since 2012. Before Hyderabad, it was defeated by Mumbai Indians in the opening match of the season itself. At the same time, Sunrisers have only their fourth win in 14 matches played against Kolkata after 2020. At the same time, this is Hyderabad’s fourth win in 12 IPL matches played at Eden Gardens.

KKR’s batting while chasing the target of 227 runs was disappointing. Finn Allen made a 30-run partnership with captain Ajinkya Rahane in 1.3 overs. Allen was out after scoring 28 runs in just seven balls. His innings included two sixes and four fours.

From here Angkrish Raghuvanshi made a partnership of 37 runs in 21 balls with the captain for the second wicket. Rahane contributed 8 runs to the team’s account. Angkrish added 46 runs with Rinku Singh for the fourth wicket. Rinku scored 35 runs, while Angkrish scored 52 runs in 29 balls with two sixes and six fours, but could not lead the team to victory. This was Raghuvanshi’s second consecutive half-century in the match. Earlier, he had also scored a half-century in the match against Mumbai.

Hyderabad’s explosive batting

Earlier, the opening pair of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma gave a great start to Sunrisers Hyderabad. Both players scored 82 runs in 5.4 overs. Travis Head was out after scoring 46 runs in 21 balls, his innings included three sixes and six fours. Apart from these, Abhishek Sharma added 48 runs to the team’s account with four sixes and as many fours in 21 balls.

After the break of the opening pair, the team lost wickets rapidly. SRH’s score after 9.2 overs was 118/4. From here, Heinrich Klaasen along with Nitish Reddy added 82 runs in 53 balls for the fifth wicket and completed the team’s double century. Klaasen was out after scoring 52 runs in 35 balls with the help of one six and four fours, while Nitish Reddy contributed 39 runs to the team’s account. From the opposition camp, Blessing Muzarabani took the maximum of four wickets, while Vaibhav Arora took two wickets. There was one wicket each in the name of Karthik Tyagi and Anukul Roy.