The Kolkata Knight Riders triumphed over the Sunrisers Hyderabad with a score of 200 for 6. Venkatesh scored 60 runs and Raghuvanshi scored 50 runs in their victory. The Sunrisers Hyderabad fell behind with a score of only 120, with Klaasen scoring 33 runs. Arora and Varun were the standout bowlers, taking 3 wickets each for the Kolkata Knight Riders to secure an 80-run win.
While KKR bounced back from their earlier struggles in Mumbai, SRH’s batting woes continued as they suffered their third consecutive loss in IPL 2025. After a strong start with a massive 286 run total, SRH’s performance lacked energy, in contrast to KKR who put up an impressive 200 for 6. Vice-captain Venkatesh Iyer’s quickfire 60 off just 29 balls and Rinku Singh’s unbeaten 32 off 17 gave KKR a strong finish, scoring 78 runs in the last five overs. The partnership of Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi also contributed to KKR’s success, adding 81 runs for the third wicket.
SRH’s carelessness in the field led to their downfall multiple times, resulting in a dismal score of only 120 against KKR’s fast bowlers who swiftly took down their top three batsmen in a mere 13 deliveries. This performance caused the previous season’s runners-up to fall to last place on the leaderboard, while the defending champions improved five positions and landed at fifth place.
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In a familiar sequence of events, Travis Head once again met an early exit at the hands of Vaibhav Arora, just like in the previous IPL final. Meanwhile, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan were only able to contribute 2 runs apiece. This marked SRH’s second-lowest start in an IPL match. Similarly, during last year’s final, their top three (excluding Kishan) had mustered a mere 11 runs between them.
After struggling through a 9 for 3 start, SRH continued to struggle and eventually faced their largest loss in the history of the IPL by a significant number of runs.
Travishan didn’t perform well in the major pursuit.
Although there was no venom in the pitch and the KKR pace attack did not pose any unplayable bounce or movement, it proved to be a challenge for the SRH top order. Despite Mitchell Starc’s absence from the attack, they struggled to find answers. In the second over, Head was caught at mid-off after skying the second ball, while Abhishek edged a slower delivery from Harshit Rana to slip. Kishan also fell victim to the strong bowling attack as he smashed one to cover where Rahane made a spectacular catch that delighted the home fans. There was a missed opportunity for KKR to take another wicket when Andre Russell couldn’t hold on to an on-drive from Kamindu Mendis at mid-on, which could have been a double-wicket maiden for Arora. However, Russell redeemed himself by taking Nitish Reddy’s wicket soon after the powerplay ended as he was caught at long-on. Arora eventually claimed his third wicket of the match by dismissing Henrich Klaasen for 33 during his second spell.
During the match, Reddy displayed moments of his exceptional ball-striking ability, while Mendis managed to hit a couple of sixes off Russell’s deliveries on the leg side. Klaasen also put in an effort to prolong the game despite the increasing asking rate of 15 runs per over. SRH was challenged by Rahane’s five consecutive overs from Narine and Chakarvarthy, spanning from the eighth to the 12th, which only conceded 33 runs and claimed two more wickets. However, Arora dismissed Klaasen and Varun almost achieved a hat-trick in the 16th over. With their final score at 120, questions were once again raised about SRH’s approach to batting.
Narine and de Kock disappoint yet again with low scores.
Despite the Eden pitch lacking the same excitement as the Wankhede in KKR’s last game, their openers once again didn’t perform well. Narine was dismissed by a yorker for 7 and de Kock fell to a short ball, scoring only 1 off 6, leaving KKR at 17 for 2 after three overs. However, Rahane and Raghuvanshi from Mumbai stepped up with four sixes in 14 balls, giving KKR some momentum. Rahane impressively hit three of those sixes before even getting his first four, dominating the leg-side boundary with two pulls and a sublime flick behind square.
Ansari brings things back.
Upon the field spreading out, Cummins brought on a spin bowler. His rookie legspinner, Zeeshan Ansari, impressively contained the established batters with his varied deliveries, only conceding 25 runs in three consecutive overs. Meanwhile, the pace bowlers struggled to prevent boundaries from being scored on the other end. In his first 14 balls, Ansari only gave up one boundary due to a misfield by Reddy. However, Raghuvanshi was able to hit a six and four off him when he pitched too full. Despite this setback, Ansari continued to fight and ultimately took Rahane’s wicket for 38.
Led by Venkatesh and Rinku, KKR scores an impressive 200 runs.
SRH almost had two wickets in quick succession, but Reddy’s missed catch at the rope on 43 saved Raghuvanshi. He took advantage of the opportunity and hit a four with a cover drive later in the same over. This shot also brought him his second IPL fifty in the following over. However, his luck eventually ran out when Kamindu Mendis, the ambidextrous Sri Lanka spinner, got him out. Harshal Patel’s superb diving catch from deep point sealed Raghuvanshi’s fate.
After 13 overs, KKR’s run rate was just over eight with two new batters at the crease. Harshal and Simranjeet Singh attempted to slow them down by changing up the pace, but their efforts were short-lived. Once Rinku and Venkatesh found their rhythm, they propelled KKR to their first 200 total of the tournament. Rinku kickstarted the onslaught with three consecutive boundaries off Harshal in the 17th over, followed by two more from Venkatesh in the next over. In the penultimate over, Venkatesh continued his impressive performance with four consecutive boundaries despite Cummins’ attempts to mix things up with his deliveries. He eventually reached a fifty off just 25 balls before ending his innings with a six and a four off Harshal’s bowling in the final over. While Harshal managed to limit the damage in the last few balls, it was too late as Venkatesh had already done significant harm.
