IPL 2023 Live Report - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata

Umran strikes with the first ball of the 20th over. Shardul is gone. Slot ball gets a wicket. Rinku is stuck at the non-strikers' end

Now, Rinku is on strike for four balls. KKR need 31. Game done unless there are no-balls and wides...

Incredible chase from KKR, but this has been a showcase of two things - Sunrisers' batting and varying strengths of their personnel. Brook the pace hitter. Markram and Abhishek the spin hitters. Bhuvneshwar (4-1-29-1) the death overs king. And Markande (4-0-27-2) their surprise trump card spinner.

For a finisher, Rinku doesn't bother moving around his crease. He just stands still and hopes to get leg side of the ball and then swing. He's also banking on the fact that the bowlers are going to go blockhole. He's standing deep in his crease and waiting for it and then bottom-hand bashing everything.

Sunrisers drop Rinku! And its a dolly too. Glenn Phillips the substitute on the deep midwicket boundary. He's a gun fielder normally but here, not only does he drop the catch, it goes for four.

Bhuvi's setting his own fields out there. Shows you he's clear headed. Shows you he knows exactly what he wants to do. Asks fine leg and short third to come in. So slower ball.

And yep, it's slower, only the mis-hit goes over Natarajan's head at short third and off for four. So close.

Doesn't worry about it though. Comes charging in for the next ball and lands it wide of Shardul's reach, slower ball, beats him, dot.

One wide yorker. One yorker on leg stump. Two slow wide balls. One low full toss that Rinku couldn't get under. One full toss that might have become a wicket but Markram dropped a tough catch running back. KKR need 48 off 12

To a full toss.

He's caught off a full toss for 75 off 41 balls. It's been an incredible innings. He never once wavered in the face of such a scary asking rate. Played to plans. Hit the spinners straight to the short boundary. Basically ruined Malik for the day, cracking him for 28 runs in one over.

KKR had a puncher's chance at this game, and Rana was the one who gave it to them. Now he's gone as Natarajan strikes. They need 58 in 18 balls. CSK needed 54 in 18 when Dhoni and Jadeja went wild against Royals

Jansen was almost all the way through to backing Bhuvi's over up with another outstanding effort at the death. He gives up only four runs in five legal balls. One of those could have been Rana's wicket had Washington held onto a skier at deep square leg.

But the last ball. The last ball is a full toss that goes for six. Then that awful klaxon comes on for a no-ball. That means the great over that Jansen was bowling turns to ash in front of his eyes. The free-hit is hit for six too. Rinku with both sixes. KKR need 70 in 24 balls. This will be the highest chase in IPL history if its pulled off

Here's what experience does for you.

Bhuvneshwar isn't flash. Certainly not Umran Malik flash. But while Malik got pasted bowling 150, Bhuvneshwar almost picked up Rinku's wicket, didn't, but recovered from giving an early boundary to finish a 15th over that cost just seven runs. Its the first in four that cost less than 10 runs.

And the secret is, Bhuvi didn't bowl the same ball twice. He explored the block hole, but didn't overdo it. He took pace off, but never allowed room to free the arms. He went wide outside off to take away the power game. He tucked the batter up on middle and leg, again taking away the power game. All of this at pitch-perfect control.

RIN-KUU! RIN-KUU! RIN-KUU! GOES THE EDEN GARDENS

And they're doing it exactly how a chase like this needs to be done. Focus on one boundary an over. Rana got a six in the 12th. Then another six in the 13th. Rinku got a six in the 14th and Rana chipped in with a four as well.

KKR need 94 runs off 36 balls, which means ESPNcricinfo forecaster is giving them only a 1.17% chance of winning.

KKR's asking rate is up at 14. They can't think like that. But they can think about getting a boundary an over, and working singles and twos around it. That gives them 10 an over every time until they have to go bigger at the death.

This is exactly what Rana is doing. He saw two tossed up balls that allowed him the chance to free the arms from Washington in the 12th over and Markande in the 13th and he launched both of them straight down the ground for sixes.

35, 0, 1, 3

Russell's IPL with the bat.

He's been dismissed by Mayank Markande.

Sunrisers have Adil Rashid in their team. But to fit him, they'd have to drop one of their overseas batters. If that's Klaasen, then the middle order loses a lot of firepower and maybe they'll have to slot Brook back in there.

So they took a punt on Markande and he has absolutely delivered. Took four wickets on Sunrisers debut and now he's taken Russell out.

In comes RINKU SINGH though and Eden rises as one to welcome him.

And he is happy to get a single first ball, after having to be helped off the field by not one but two people in the late stages of the first innings. So his legs are okay. It might just be that he cramped up earlier. Kolkata has been in the middle of a massive heat wave, the kind that can be brutal on a cricketer who doesn't play all that often, which is Dre Russ now because he doesn't play internationals.

But before all of this, Sreshth, who is at the Eden Gardens, says originally Shardul Thakur was supposed to walk out at N Jagadeesan's wicket in the ninth over. The umpire called for a time out when Jagadeesan fell, at which point Shardul just walked back to the dug out and Russell walked in. Weird.

Sunrisers are on point again. Soon as Russell's in they call back their 45 foot tall fast bowler to go for his nose and toes Jansen's back

KKR have jumped from 34 for 3 in five overs to 62 for 3 in six. And its all come off the fastest bowler of the night.

Umran Malik kept running in. Nitish Rana kept swinging. There were a couple of top-edges. But there were also incredible horizontal bat shots over the off side boundary, indicative of a great eye and a you're not gonna scare me approach.

Malik kept going quick, quick and quicker, banging the ball into the wicket, not bothering about changes in line and length, not bothering about variations. It was an over full of ego from the fast bowler and he got TAKEN DOWN.

There are two kinda sorta physics defying bowlers playing this game. And both of them picked up two wickets in an over. Andre Russell for KKR and now Marco Jansen for Sunrisers.

At 30 feet tall (he might as well be) he can bowl a length ball and it can hit high on the bat. That's what happened with pinch hitter Sunil Narine who thought he had lined one up to smash out of the park, but instead ended up not even able to clear the infield.

Jansen was on a hat-trick and he chose a pretty good option to pull it off. He knows batters tend to worry about his bounce. He knows he can sneak one really full and catch them flat-footed. He did. Nitish Rana wasn't ready to put that front foot across to the ball as he wafted outside off and is very lucky not to nick off.

What a night for Harry Brook. He scores a century. Then gets to put his feet up next to Brian Lara. He's been subbed out of the game for Washintgon Sundar.

KKR have brought in Venkatesh Iyer, and he's already in, with Rahmanullah Gurbaz dismissed in the first over, having to go hard at Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

KKR are 4 for 1 after two overs.

Brook vs pace: 66 off 26, strike rate 253.84
Brook vs spin: 34 off 28, strike rate 117.24
Total: 100 off 55 not out

Markram vs pace: 8 off 4, strike rate 200
Markram vs spin: 42 off 22, strike rate 190.90
Total: 50 off 26.

Markram was brilliant, he got a half-volley that he hit for six, and he picked a googly that he pulled for six, but there was also a reverse swept four, which was a calculated risk, which he didn't need to take, but he did because he didn't want KKR to feel safe at all. Markram was my favourite innings tonight because if he hadn't done what he did, Brook would've felt the pressure and played a rash shot against bowlers he wasn't confident facing

Abhishek vs pace: 0 off 1, strike rate 0
Abhishek vs spin: 32 off 16, strike rate 200

Abhishek's USP is his off-side play. He kept hitting Suyash's legspin inside out through cover. He cut Narine for four which made him bowl the tossed up ball that went for six. Batters who get boundaries through non-slogs scare the ^%&# out of bowlers. Even good bowlers.

First, Brook launched their quicks in the powerplay, making them turn to Narine and Chakravarthy sooner than then normally would.

Then, when Brook began to struggle against spin, Markram targeted them and that, personally, was the point where this game changed. I don't think KKR were ready for that. They thought they had the game under control then. Because between overs 7 and 14, Brook couldn't score a single boundary.

But then pace had to come back and Brook targeted that, hitting Lockie Ferguson for 23 runs in an over.

Abhishek took down Narine. Sunrisers never gave KKR a moment's respite. It was beautiful, calculated and brilliant.

Brook is hitting leg stump yorkers from around thew wicket for fours through point even though there were two fielders there.

He made the shot possible by making room for himself, but once he does that, he is so still. His head is so still.

He's got a 55-ball century in his fourth IPL innings. Sunrisers have a batter they'll likely wanna hold on to for the next 10 years. England will hope he goes even longer. And Eden Gardens is standing up to applaud a player who has just bashed their team left, right and centre.

Brook is only the third Sunrisers batter to score a century after Warner (twice) and Bairstow (once)

Russell comes back on. He picks up Abhishek Sharma. And then he goes down again. He looks distraught. And he is being helped off the field by two people. It's his right leg. The knee again? He's trying to stretch it with every step he takes.

Abhishek Sharma has taken Rashid Khan down before.

Here he's done the business to Sunil Narine in the 17th over.

Sunrisers have put on a masterclass in batting tonight.

Brook racing away in the powerplay. Markram taking the spinners down just as they were building pressure. And now by using Abhishek Sharma, who used to open for them, as another spin hitter.

Narine hadn't conceded a single boundary in his spell until Abhishek took him on.

Abhishek 32 off 16 vs KKR spinners
Narine: 11 off 4 with one four and one six
Varun: 9 off 4 with one six
Suyash: 12 off 8 with two fours

Pace comes on. Brook switches back on. This is Lockie Ferguson getting smashed for 23 runs in the 15th over. Sunrisers 153 for 3. So that slowdown against spin doesn't look so bad now. Maybe he played this way knowing he can catch up. And of course, Markram helped him by taking over as aggressor.

Seven boundaries in the powerplay. Then none between overs seven and 14. THen suddenly five in six legal balls. Phew.

There are 360 degree batters. And then there's Brook, a 360 degree batter with power.

Suryakumar Yadav is a 360 degree batter who relies on his wrists as opposed to just strength. A lot of his shots behind the wicket are the result of a whip of those wrists that he has which provide power into the shot.

Brook doesn't need those nuances. In the third over of this game, when the bowler almost one-upped him, by seeing him back away and bowling wide of the crease, he launched a six by just making contact with the ball. That bottom hand he’s got is more a ballistic missile.

But it’s not his only weapon. There was a ball in the first over that wasn’t all that short. It couldn’t be pulled away. Not with a proper horizontal bat. So he used a sort of angled bat, and at the point of contact, he worked his wrists into the ball and away it went.

This is a player who is power plus. And thanks to Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, he also has a small galaxy’s worth of self-belief. Harry Brook is going to rule cricket for years to come.

There was a time that Aiden Markram couldn't buy a run against spin. I remember a Test series in Sri Lanka where Rangana Herath could just look at him and he'd spontaneously combust.

Now, as captain of his IPL side, against a team with three mystery spinners, Aiden Markram is 50 off 25 with four hits clean out of Eden Gardens and one reverse swept four as well.

This is an OUTSTANDING innings. It's coincided with their big batter falling into a lull against the same bowlers - the same mystery spinners - that Markram is smashing all over the park

Brook vs pace: 34 off 14
Brook vs spin: 19 off 20
MARKRAM VS SPIN: 42 off 22

vs Narune: 6 runs off 6 balls
vs Varun: 14 runs off 8 balls with one four and one six
vs Suyash: 22 off 8 balls with one four and three sixes

He's gone though. Special innings. He's set the base for Sunrisers to really got hard at the death, and they still have Brook out there. SRH 129 for 3 in 12.5 overs.

Since the field has spread, and the mystery spinners have come on, Brook has gone 1, 1, 1, dot, 1, dot, dot, 1, 1 and catch dropped

Suyash Sharma is the man who creates the chance - two actually. Brook doesn't read the googly first ball - tossed up wide - and inside edges the big cover drive almost onto his stumps.

Next ball, because it comes off slowly off the pitch, his cut shot through cover almost ends up back in the bowler's hands.

This is the challenge he faces; the learning curve that he has to ace. It won't be easy but he looks capable. He's 50 off 32 now.

Two balls into his second over, he crouches down by the bowling crease and takes a LONG time to get back up.

He keeps bowling, but something's off. The ball isn't screaming down the way to the batter.

It's a gentle medium pace and Markram is more than happy to whack it for six.

Russell always plays with an asterisk over his fitness. He's one of those players that teams want in their XIs even if he's less than 50% fit.

And yeah, he's walking off the field with the physio and he looks annoyed; annoyed at his own body; at his luck just as he was feeling in rhythm.

It's taken him four matches this IPL to come on and bowl and he immediately picks up a wicket

Dre Russ is KKR through and through and every time they turn to him, he delivers

Mayank Agarwal is gone, attempting to guide a back of a length ball over short third man, except he underestimates Russell's ability to get bounce. A lot of people do. He's got major problems with his knees. But every time he decides to run in, he gives it everything, and usually his everything surprises batters.

AND HE GETS TWO IN THE OVER. Once again its the bounce. Tripathi had whacked Russell for a couple of fours. He thought he could take Russell down when a short ball came up for his nose. But nope. Not happening. To make matters worse, this ball actually looked quick. It was on Tripathi real quick. Feels like Russell didn't like those two boundaries hit off him; feels like those shots fired him up

He likes the ball coming on. Sunrisers gave him that by pushing him up to open. He doesn't usually bat up there but the logic is sound. And now the results are coming.

Brook was perhaps bought at the auction for a gazillion dollars to try and fix the one problem that has followed Sunrisers all through their existence. A bit of star power in the middle order.

But Brook's runs down there have all come in conditions that were either friendly for batting, like in Rawalpindi, or in places where you can trust the pace and bounce on the ball, like New Zealand.

In India, its different. The ball stays lower. It comes through slower. Playing at No. 4 and 5 is tricky. And perhaps not quite in Brook's game yet, given he's in his debut IPL season.

So its good on Sunrisers to take a punt on their biggest asset - and he is, Brook on song is a difference maker as he has proven with England. Now he has a chance to show all that on this stage too.

KKR have 12 overs of spin to target this weakness. We've known what Narine brings for years. We saw what Varun brought the other night. We are eager to know more about Suyash Sharma, which is why Sreshth Shah spoke to him earlier this season and brings you his story. It's a good one. Read on.

Nitish Rana of the Knight Riders says there's no pressure on them, and that it's going to be the same team as the last game. His decision to chase is based on the fact that there's been dew expected.

KKR: Gurbaz, Narine, Jagadeesan, Rana, Russell, Rinku, Shardul, Ferguson, Umesh, Suyash, Varun
Subs: Mandeep, Anukul, Venkatesh, Wiese, Khejroliya

Aiden Markram of Sunrisers also wanted to bowl, saying that's the trend of the tournament. One change: Abhishek Sharma is back. Washington Sundar misses out. He is also conscious of how Eden Gardens is a ground that rewards good cricket shots and thats their focus as batters, not on a specific 200-type total.

Sunrisers: Agarwal, Brook, Tripathi, Markram, Klaasen, Abhishek, Jansen, Markande, Bhuvneshwar, Natarajan, Malik
Subs: Samad, Vivrant, Phillips, Dagar, Washington

He's right. The pitch has a little bit of grass on it, so there's a chance the ball will come on nicely to the bat. Plus this match is being played on the centre wicket, so the boundaries all around are evenly spread.

Before you ask, yes. I am that thirsty.

PS - Try out ESPNcricinfo's first AR-based game - just aim and hit the stumps.