Harshit Rana keeps his nerves to dismiss both Shahbaz Ahmed and Heinrich Klaasen in the final over to deny SRH a miraculous heist as KKR prevail by just four runs.
26 runs off Mitchell Starc's over, the 19th that the Australian pacer bowled and Klaasen turned the game on its head in no time. Suddenly from needing 39 runs in two overs, SRH came to needing 6 off four deliveries.
Rahul Tripathi's hit-and-miss innings came to an end as Sunil Narine got him caught at deep square leg. Sunrisers are in deep trouble now and will need a miraculous knock from someone like Heinrich Klaasen to do it for them.
Varun Chakravarthy has struck and has dismissed former SRH skipper Aiden Markram getting him caught in deep mid-wicket.
Andre Russell with his pace and bounce has struck gold and taken the big wicket of Abhishek Sharma as Sunrisers have lost two quick wickets now.
Harshit Rana after leaking boundaries has gotten his man and the Delhi boy reminds the batter that he has the last laugh by giving a send-off. Agarwal doesn't like it but doesn't say anything apart from giving a good hard stare.
Sunrisers Hyderabad are off to a smashing start in their run-chase having smashed 58 runs off the first five overs. Both Mayank Agarwal and Abhishek Sharma smashed KKR bowlers to all parts as they gave the home side a taste of its own medicine.
Abhishek Sharma comes in as an impact sub to replace T Natarajan and opens with experienced Mayank Agarwal for SRH.
The returning star Mitchell Starc is set to bowl the first over for Kolkata Knight Riders.
SRH chase 209 runs in 120 balls.
Kolkata Knight Riders have posted a massive total of 208 as they recovered from 119/6 owing to an Andre Russell special who smashed an unbeaten 25-ball 64. The death bowling remained a concern for SRH yet again as they ran into a Russell in the beast mode.
T Natarajan has provided some relief for SRH amid carnage as he dismisses Rinku Singh. Andre Russell still there for KKR.
Andre Russell has gotten KKR fans and Shah Rukh Khan up on their feet with a 20-ball half-century as the Knight Riders are inching closer to a score of 200. The partnership between Russell and Rinku has crossed 80 now.
Mayank Markande is everywhere for the Sunrisers. He is taking flying catches in the covers and taking big wickets like Phil Salt, who smashed a fifty and kept KKR in the hunt. Knight Riders are six wickets down now.
SRH continue to take wickets as Nitish Rana departs now without scoring much. Mayank Markande flighted it and Rana handed it straight to the point fielder.
T Natarajan on IPL comeback was on fire as he dismissed both the Iyers - Venkatesh and Shreyas in the very same over. He got Venkatesh caught in the covers and Shreyas at mid-off as SRH skipper Pat Cummins took a leaping catch to leave KKR reeling three wickets down.
Phil Salt began his KKR journey on a smashing note, hitting three sixes off as many balls of Marco Jansen but on the very next ball, he played a shorter delivery towards short third man and called for a run but immediately realised there wasn't. He sent back the non-striker Sunil Narine but he had run halfway and Shahbaz Ahamad caught him short with a pin-point accurate direct hit.
Phil Salt is the opening batter for Kolkata Knight Riders alongside Sunil Narine in a massive surprise given Venkatesh Iyer was slated to open.
Impact subs
Sunrisers Hyderabad Impact Subs: Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Umran Malik, Glenn Phillips, Abhishek Sharma
Kolkata Knight Riders Impact Subs: Suyash Sharma, Manish Pandey, Vaibhav Arora, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rahmanullah Gurbaz
Playing XI: Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Marco Jansen, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, T Natarajan
Playing XI: Phil Salt(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy
Sunrisers Hyderabad have opted to bowl first after winning the toss as the new skipper Pat Cummins reckoned that the pitch was really good and with the short boundaries, chasing was the right option.
Will it be slow or a sporting pitch? There have been a lot of discussions regarding the pitch and the curator has already quashed the rumours of KKR requesting slow surface like the World Cup and hence the pitch will be fast and good for batting, hence expect a lot of runs.
Pat Cummins will be making his T20 captaincy debut after SRH named him skipper for the season. SRH and whole of the Sunrisers fans will be hoping for the same results as Australia witnessed under him in Tests and ODIs.
Shreyas Iyer after missing the 2023 edition of the IPL will be returning to the cash-rich tournament. With no central contract and an injury cloud hanging over his head, there are a few other factors regarding Iyer and the only way he can shut all the speculations down by performing.
Kolkata Knight Riders will kick off their IPL 2024 campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad at their home ground Eden Gardens on Saturday, March 23. Welcome to our live coverage of Match 3 of the 2024 edition of the IPL.
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