In the 47th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by five runs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Toss was won by KKR skipper Nitish Rana who opted to bat first. Jason Roy (20) gave a positive start but got out pretty soon. The Knights lost three wickets in the powerplay, but a subsequent combination between Nitish Rana (42) and Rinku Singh (46) helped to keep the innings afloat. Both the batters added 61 runs for the fourth wicket partnership. While Rana smashed three fours and three sixes, Rinku hammered four fours and one six. Furthermore, Andre Russell also boosted the scorecard by striking at the strike rate of 160. After batting first, KKR ended up with 171 runs on the board.
In the chase, only Aiden Markram (41) and Heinrich Klassen (36) tried their best and no other batter could contribute enough. Abdul Samad (21) was the only hope towards the end but got out in the final over.
With the ball, while defending, two wickets each were acquired by Vaibhav Arora and Shardul Thakur. One wicket each was grabbed by Harshit Rana, Andre Russell, Anukul Roy and Varun Chakaravarthy.
Marco Jansen and T Natarajan bagged two wickets each in the first innings. Along with them, one wicket each was also taken by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kartik Tyagi, Aiden Markram and Mayank Markande.
Varun Chakaravarthy was adjudged Player of the Match for his match-winning bowling performance. With this win, KKR are still in contention of playoffs.
Scorecard:
Kolkata Knight Riders: 171/9, Overs 20, Rinku Singh 46, Marco Jansen 2/24
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 166/8, Overs 20, Aiden Markram 41, Shardul Thakur 2/23