Kolkata: At Eden Gardens, Sunrisers Hyderabad (226/8 in 20 overs) defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (161 all out in 16 overs) by 65 runs to open their account with two points, joining Rajasthan, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Punjab on the points table.
Sri Lanka’s Eshan Malinga delivered a sensational all-round performance. He effected run-outs of Angkrish Raghuvanshi (52 off 29 balls, 2 sixes, 6 fours) and Cameron Green (2), took a catch to dismiss captain Ajinkya Rahane (8), and also claimed the wickets of Ramandeep Singh (10) and the dangerous opener Sunil Narine (12). Malinga dominated all phases of Kolkata’s innings, with Shivang Kumar also playing a key role in Raghuvanshi’s run-out.
Porbandar-born left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat (3-0-21-3) was equally instrumental in Hyderabad’s victory. Apart from Malinga, Nitish Reddy took two wickets while Harsh Dubey picked up one. When Rinku Singh (35 off 25 balls, 1 six, 4 fours) was dismissed by Nitish Reddy in the 14th over, Kolkata’s hopes of a comeback faded significantly.
Kiwi opener Finn Allen (28 off 7 balls, 2 sixes, 4 fours), who had scored an unbeaten match-winning century against South Africa at this venue in the World Cup last month, played a brief but aggressive knock before being dismissed. His crucial wicket was taken by Hyderabad spinner Harsh Dubey.
Earlier, after being put in to bat, Hyderabad posted a massive 226 for 8 in 20 overs, thanks to useful contributions from four batters. This was the highest score of the ongoing IPL season. Interestingly, despite crossing 200 before the 19th over with six wickets down, none of the batters had reached a half-century until Heinrich Klaasen brought up his fifty in the final over, before getting out.
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Klaasen scored 52 off 35 balls with one six and four fours before being dismissed by Zimbabwe pacer Blessing Muzarabani, who also claimed Shivang Kumar’s wicket on the final ball of the innings. Travis Head scored 46, Abhishek added 48, and Nitish Kumar contributed 39 runs.
Muzarabani was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets. Vaibhav Arora took two, while Kartik Tyagi and Anukul Roy claimed one wicket each.