Venkatesh Iyer, pacers hand KKR dominating win at home as SRH implode once again

Venkatesh Iyer, pacers hand KKR dominating win at home as SRH implode once again 

             Venkatesh Iyer, pacers hand KKR dominating win at home as SRH implode once again

 Kolkata Knight Riders obliterated Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens on Thursday, April 3. Ajinkya Rahane's side got the pitch they wanted from Sujan Mukherjee and showed their full might as the defending champions beat the 2024 finalists by 80 runs.

In a slow turner in Kolkata, SRH painfully and gradually saw their hopes of winning the match fade away after abysmal performances in both halves of the game. After a terrible performance in the field, which saw KKR score 200/6 in the first innings, SRH batters imploded and only managed a total of 120 runs, losing the entirety of their side in 16.4 overs.

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The tall batting line-up of Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, and Ishan Kishan failed as SRH were reduced to 9/3 in the first three overs of the chase. From there, the visiting side saw their hopes slip away, one ball at a time, as the Kolkata bowlers put up a controlled performance for the entirety of the second innings of the match.

The tragic part, perhaps, was that Eden Gardens was not even half-filled on the night, reportedly due to the multifold rise in ticket prices.

 A Bowling Performance to Remember

Ajinkya Rahane and KKR had a public spat with the Eden pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee after they lost the first game. Rahane had wanted a slow turner, more suited to the team's strength. This was the game that KKR needed to prove that their demand for a certain kind of pitch was right, and boy, they did.

Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora, KKR's pace pairing from last season, wrecked the SRH batting line-up in the first 3 overs, drawing false shots and edges. The slight seam movement was enough to trump the SRH batters, who failed to understand the nature of the pitch.

 Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, and Ishan Kishan tried to go hard at the ball and ended up throwing their wickets.

After the duo were done, Rahane attacked the SRH line-up with Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine, finishing 7 of their overs by the 14th. The duo gave away only 49 runs in return for Kamindu Mendis' (27 off 20) and Aniket Verma's (6 off 6) wickets.

KKR bowlers were well-supported by their fielding unit, who refused to drop chances in the field. Only Andre Russell dropped a difficult chance off Kamindu, but he made up for it by dismissing Nitish Kumar Reddy right after that.

 Captain Rahane-Understudy Angkrish Shine

Tactically, there were several differences between the two teams on the day. SRH bowled shorter lengths, while KKR were not afraid to pitch it full. Only one SRH spinner bowled his full quota of overs, while KKR hurriedly went through Narine and Varun.

But perhaps, the main difference was in their approach with the bat. Both KKR and SRH were heavy-hitting sides last IPL. But in this match, KKR adapted to the conditions much better. They knew that this was the sort of pitch where batters could not hit shots from ball one. After two early wickets, Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi dug their nails into the wicket.

 They navigated the first half of the match by hitting shots against balls that were either too short or too full. They left alone the deliveries that were in the in-between length, ones that gripped on the surface, deceiving the batters.

The duo added 81 runs in 51 balls, setting the stage for the middle-order batters to show their hitting range.

Rahane hit 38 off 27, while Angkrish made sure that he reached his fifty. From there on, it was simply a barrage of big shots from Venkatesh Iyer (60 off 29) and Rinku Singh (32* off 17) that made sure KKR put up a mega total on Thursday.