Russell’s machal power first. Then Klaasen’s classic hit. Finally, KKR hits vijay’s smile. Knights won the first match of the season by 4 runs. Klaasen’s devastating batting once stunned the entire Eden. Especially the 25 crore Starc is a complete flop in the first match. But In the last over, Harshit Rana gave a taste of winning the match where KKR lost.
Hyderabad won the toss and elected to bowl. Opener Phil Salt caught the attention of KKR’s top order. Apart from his half-centuries, none of KKR top orders Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana got runs. Ramandeep Singh played as an impact player to give some support to Phil Salt. They added 54 runs to the pair.
Phil Salt 54 and Ramandeep Singh 35 runs, KKR are under pressure again. 119 runs fell to the knights for 6 wickets. Then KKR’s rest of the innings was just Russell’s machel power. The Caribbean star took the Eden by storm. He was accompanied by Rinku Singh. Formed an 81-run partnership. Rinku was dismissed for 23 runs. Russell played a devastating innings of 64 off 25 balls and remained unbeaten. He scored 7 sixes and 3 fours. In the end, KKR scored 208 for 7 in 20 overs.
Sunrisers Hyderabad got off to a good start after a big target of 209 runs. Two openers Mayank Agarwal and impact player Abhishek Sharma kept playing para shots. The duo shared a half-century partnership in 5 overs. Sunrisers lost their first wicket for 60 runs in the sixth over. Hyderabad broke open pairs and started losing wickets at regular intervals.
Heinrich Klaasen did the same for Hyderabad as Russell did for KKR in stressful situations. He almost snatched KKR’s victory with devastating batting. Shahbaz Ahmed gave Klassen some companies. Starc of 25 crore almost lost the match with four sixes in the 19th over. He conceded 53 runs in 4 overs without any wickets.
Harshit Rana bowled a match-winning over in the last over. He fired both Klassen and Shahbaz. Klassen was dismissed for 63 off 29 balls. He left the field in despair. In the end, Sunrisers scored 204 for 7 in 20 overs. KKR won the match by 4 runs. Shah Rukh Khan won his first match of the season.