The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the defending champions, had a dismal tournament debut, but Thursday, April 3, was a totally different night. Despite the toss going against them, the hosts were resolute in every aspect of the game in Match No. 15 of the IPL 2025 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). On a sparsely populated Eden Gardens, the Knight Riders had to bat first, and it wasn’t the most enjoyable start.
By the third over, both openers Quinton de Kock and Sunil Narine had left, but it was the middle order that took over, assisting KKR in reaching 200 for 6 at the conclusion of 20 overs. In the first innings, Kamindu Mendis had the Sunrisers’ best numbers. Sunrisers never appeared at ease during the pursuit, so their response to the total was appalling. The visitors gave the Ajinkya Rahane-led team an 80-run victory after being bowled out for 120.
Talking Points
1. Raghuvanshi-Venkatesh provide the much-needed mesh
After losing the openers early, skipper Ajinkya Rahane hit a few meaty blows to up the ante. Before making his way back to the dressing room, the KKR captain made 38 off 27, which includes four mighty hits into the stands. Post then, it was all about his deputy Venkatesh Iyer and Angkrish Raghuvanshi sailed the three-time champions to the comfortable shores. A Rinku Singh cameo added the finishing touch, as SRH failed to keep up with the powerplay momentum.
2. Abhishek-Travis removed with ease
The dangerous opening duo of Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head looked can threaten any opposition, but Vaibhav Arora struck instantly, scalping the latter’s wicket with ease. Abhishek departed the very next over, courtesy of a peach by Harshit Rana. Ishan Kishan, too, couldn’t contribute. Heinrich Klaasen played an entertaining knock, but it did good only to the crowd, as wickets kept tumbling at the other end. He too was dismissed in the 15th over, which made win only a formality.
3. The Knights aggregate four points
Having played four games so far, Rahane & Co. faced criticism amidst all the talks surrounding the home advantage. However, a clinical display with both the bat and the ball meant that the SRH tie became their second win of the season. This win was necessary for them, since they looked nowhere closer in the competition during the previous fixture against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede.
Who Said What?
Pat Cummins, SRH captain, said
Not a great time. I think this was gettable, pretty good wicket. Left too many in the field and then fell well short in the end. We need to be realistic, three games in a row it hasn’t come off for us. We need to maybe look back at whether we could have chosen better options. Our batters are best when they take the game on, but looking back maybe we could have taken different options.
(On what went wrong) It was mainly our fielding, overall bowling wasn’t bad. We should have taken a few catches and stopped them a bit earlier. (On Adam Zampa not playing) We only bowled 3 overs of spin, the ball wasn’t gripping for us too. So opted to go without him. (On how he will deal with this loss) I will probably address it on whether we could have used different options, but don’t want to dwell too much on it. We go back to a venue we know so well now.
Ajinkya Rahane, KKR captain, said
This game was really important for us. Winning by a big margin was crucial. Even we wanted to bowl on this wicket. When we lost two early wickets, wanted to consolidate till 6 overs – play with intent but play cricketing shots. And then when we have wickets in hand, guys down the order can get as many runs as possible. Happy with the batting unit. Last two games were not up to the mark for us.
But we learned a lot from our mistakes. This is a great example for us as a batting unit. Rinku and Venkatesh – those guys can play brilliant shots. Ramandeep was sitting in the dugout, Dre (Russell) was sitting and Moeen was also ready. It was about playing normal till 15 overs and take it on. Initially we thought 170-180 in the surface would be good. Slower balls were gripping. We had three quality spinners. Moeen, unfortunately, couldn’t bowl tonight. Sunny and Varun bowled really well. Credit goes to Vaibhav and Harshit as well.
Vaibhav Arora, Player of the Match, said
I keep myself prepared to come in as the impact sub. I assess what the pitch is doing from outside, whether there’s swing, whether the ball is holding. Yorkers and cutters are important in the fifth-sixth over as the ball doesn’t swing by then. We plan for different batters in our meetings depending on who the batter is, whether he is likely to give the charge.
India
