SRH vs KKR: A great bowling performance from Shardul & Vaibhav which helped Kolkata to defeat Hyderabad by 5 runs

Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by five runs in Match 47 of IPL 2023, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Thursday. Chasing a target of 172 runs, SRH reached 166/8 in 20 overs. Aiden Markram (41) and Heinrich Klaasen (36) played good knocks but couldn't prevent a defeat. Shardul Thakur and Vaibhav Arora bagged two wickets each for KKR. Kolkata reached 171/9 in 20 overs, with Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh making important contributions. Rana registered 42 runs off 31 balls, including three fours and three sixes. Meanwhile, Rinku smacked 46 off 35 deliveries, including four fours and a six. Marco Jansen and T Natarajan scalped two dismissals each for SRH. Read the match report of the SRH vs KKR match and share your thoughts in the comments.

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SRH vs KKR: IPL 2023 Match Report

Hyderabad had a brilliant start with the ball

Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss & decided the bat first. Jason Roy & Gurbaz opened the inning for KKR. Marco Jansen provided Hyderabad with a quick breakthrough. He dismissed Gurbaz for a duck. Venkatesh Iyer joined Roy in the middle but he also couldn't contribute much for KKR and lost his wicket after scoring only 7 runs. Jansen struck for the second time in the same over. Tyagi came up with another blow to KKR. He scalped the wicket of in-form Jason Roy for 20 runs as KKR lost their third wicket in the 5th over.

Rinku Singh & Nitish Rana held strong and made an important partnership

Nitish Rana started with a six while Rinku Singh joined him also with a maximum. Rana & Rinku Singh's partnership shifted the momentum. Rana smashed back-to-back sixes in the 10 over as KKR reached 90 after losing 3 wickets. Skipper Markram provided a much-needed breakthrough by dismissing the opposition skipper Rana for 42 runs. He was looking good but eventually, lost his concentration and threw away the wicket.

Hyderabad bowled brilliantly in the death overs

Russell became the third batter to reach the 600 sixes mark in T20 Cricket. His international teammates Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard already achieved that record long ago. Russell reached the mark with a six against SRH leg spinner Mayank Markande over the long-on fence. He smashed one more before getting out for 24 runs.

Rinku Singh continued scoring while KKR lost wickets at regular intervals. Natarajan came up with the wicket of Rinku in the final over. Anukul Roy slammed a couple of boundaries in the later stages of the inning as KKR managed to put up a total of 171 runs.

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SRH vs KKR: IPL 2023 Match Report

KKR got off to a brilliant start with the ball

Abhishek Sharma & Mayank Agarwal started the chase for Hyderabad. They had a poor start with the bat. Harshit Rana scalped the huge wicket of Mayank Agarwal in the third over. Shardul Thakur struck for the first time as he picked up the wicket of Abhishek Sharma. Rahul Tripathi & Aiden Markram took responsibility and tried to build a partnership. Soon, Tripathi fell as Russell struck in the sixth over. Sunrisers Hyderabad scored 53 runs in the powerplay after losing 3 wickets.

Anukul Roy then dismissed Harry Brook for a duck in the next over and Hyderabad fell in deep trouble. Markram and Klaasen took charge and stabilize the situation. Hyderabad reached the 70-run mark in 10 overs. Klaasen started power-hitting as Hyderabad started progressing toward their target rapidly.

SRH vs KKR: Kolkata bowled brilliantly in the final five overs and got away with an important victory

There came the twist as Klassen had to go back to the dugout after scoring 36 runs. Abdul Samad smashed a boundary in the last bowl of the 15th over as Hyderabad reached 134 runs after losing 5 wickets. Vaibhav then came with a massive surprise. A slow bouncer from him got miscued by Markram and it went high to long-off for an easy catch. He went back to the dugout after scoring important 41 runs.

Hyderabad needed 9 runs to win the match in the last over. Varun Chakaravarthy came into the last over to defend the total ad he did that perfectly. KKR won the match by 5 runs.