Vaibhav Arora was named the man of the match for his crucial bowling performance. The right-arm pacer picked up three big wickets to ensure that the hosts won their first match at Eden Gardens. He dismissed Travis Head with his second ball in the match. In his following over, the pacer picked up Ishan Kishan. He also bowled a maiden over in the powerplay against Kamindu Mendis. Bowling his final over of the game, Arora dismissed Heinrich Klaasen to seal the victory for his team.
Vaibhav Arora created a huge impact in the game coming in the second innings as the impact sub. The right-arm pacer took the crucial wicket of Travis Head with only the second ball of the second innings. In his following over, he dismissed Ishan Kishan to rattle the SRH batting unit in the powerplay. He was not done yet and coming to bowl his final over of the game, the pacer dismissed Heinrich Klaasen.
Venkatesh Iyer coming into this game was under extreme pressure. It looked like the pressure of a hefty price tag had gotten to him. He was purchased by the defending champions for ₹23.75 crores becoming the fourth most expensive player in the history of the IPL. After a string of low scores in the first three games, the left-handed batter made his first fifty of the season. His fiery knock in the death overs allowed KKR to reach the elusive total of 200. He along with Rinku Singh took to the 200-run mark which felt like would not be possible at the 15-over mark in the first innings.
Varun Chakravarthy continued his great form in the last couple of months and picked up three wickets. While the mystery spinner did not take the most important wickets he bowled with great control giving away only 22 runs in his four overs.
Angkrish Raghuvanshi has been one of the most promising young talents in the IPL since 2024. The 20-year-old batter struck an important half-century. He came to the crease when the hosts had lost two wickets for only 16 runs. In his knock, the right-handed batter struck five fours and a couple of sixes.
It was a complete turnaround for KKR and its batters after their horrific loss against Mumbai Indians. Ajinkya Rahane had called it a complete batting failure at Wankhede Stadium but his boys bounced back beautifully. The skipper himself played a great knock of 38 runs but it was Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, and Rinku Singh who played crucial knocks. Iyer smashed his first fifty of the season at a strike rate of more than 200. While 20-year-old Raghuvanshi also smashed his first fifty of IPL 2025.
For Sunrisers Hyderabad, in spite of winning the toss, the bowlers let their captain down. Even after Mohammed Shami and Pat Cummins removed both of the openers early in the powerplay, the rest of the bowlers could not strike regularly. In the field, there were multiple mistakes that were made which allowed KKR to score 15-20 runs extra.
In the second innings, it was once again a complete domination from Kolkata Knight Riders. Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana sharing the new ball provided the early breakthroughs for the hosts. In the first three overs, the two Indian pacers picked up three wickets. Vaibhav led the charge picking up the wickets of Travis Head and Ishan Kishan. Harshit got rid of Abhishek Sharma to push SRH on the backfoot.
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