KKR vs SRH Highlights, IPL 2023: Rana and Rinku's fifties in vain as Sunrisers win by 23 runs

IPL 2023, KKR vs SRH Match Summary: Sunrisers Hyderabad staved off late fightbacks from Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh to defeat Kolkata Knight Riders by 23 runs in Kolkata’s Eden Gardens on Friday and collect their second win on the trot in the process.

The Sunrisers rode on a scintillating 55-ball 100 from Englishman Harry Brook, the first century of the season so far, to post a commanding 228/4 after being invited to bat by the Knight Riders. Besides Brook, who finally announced himself in the IPL and justified his whopping price tag of Rs 13.25 crore with the whirlwind ton, skipper Aiden Markram too chipped in with a valuable 26-ball 50.

All-rounder Abhishek Sharma, who replaced Washington Sundar in the XI for the game, smashed a 17-ball 32 to help the Sunrisers go past 200 and post the biggest total of the season so far.

With the momentum firmly on Hyderabad’s side, Kolkata needed a solid start if they were to pull off the highest-ever chase in the history of the IPL and collect a third win in a row. Bhuvneshwar Kumar though put them under pressure from the word go, removing attacking wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a three-ball duck, while Marco Jansen removed Venkatesh Iyer and Sunil Narine off successive deliveries to reduce KKR to 20/3.

Had it not been for Rana’s scintillating 75 off 41 — 28 runs of which came in a single Umran Malik over — as well as yet another special off Rinku’s (58 not out off 31) bat, the match would’ve been over long back. Instead, yet another match this season managed to go down to the very last over.

IPL 2023, KKR vs SRH preview: Buoyed by their emphatic victory over Gujarat Titans, Kolkata Knight Riders will be eyeing a third win on the trot when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Friday.

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Kolkata had earlier pulled off a stunning three-wicket victory over defending champions Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad with middle-order batter Rinku Singh smashing five sixes in a row off Yash Dayal’s bowling when 29 runs were needed in the final over. Rinku had also scored a valuable 46 in a whirlwind 103-run partnership with Shardul Thakur, who struck a 29-ball 68, in a winning effort against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The Sunrisers too enter this game on the back of a commanding victory — their first of the season — with the Orange Army having hammered Punjab Kings by eight wickets in a chase of 144 on home turf, and will be backing themselves to make it two wins in as many games.

Teams:

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Harry Brook, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram(c), Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Marco Jansen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, T Natarajan

Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), N Jagadeesan, Nitish Rana(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Suyash Sharma, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakaravarthy

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