KKR vs SRH, 15th Match at Kolkata, IPL, Apr 03 2025 - Match Result

11:22pm That will be that from us for tonight. We hope you enjoyed our coverage and would love your company tomorrow too, as the Lucknow Super Giants welcome the Mumbai Indians. Until then, this is goodbye from Sudeep, Ranjith and myself. Take care, everyone!

Vaibhav Arora, Player of the Match: (On playing as Impact Player) I prepare myself, they tell me beforehand that I would be coming in. I see what the ball is doing, how much it is swinging (while on the outside). In the fifth-sixth over, the ball does not swing, so developed cutters, yorkers because cricket has changed with batters hitting bowlers. Cutters and yorkers are important (in the 5-6th over). We plan in meetings on what to bowl to which batter, and the lines and lengths get adjusted accordingly. (On Narine and Chakravarthy) We know that if we bowl well in the powerplay and can try to take wickets because we have the best spinners. So if we can get 1-2 wickets, it will become easier and we can then win the match.

Ajinkya Rahane, Kolkata Knight Riders captain: This game was really important for us, and winning with margin - that was really crucial. Batting first, losing the toss, we wanted to bowl first on this wicket. When we lost two wickets, the discussion was about consolidating and then when we have wickets in hand after 11-12 overs, guys lower down the order can score as many runs as possible. We learnt a lot from the mistakes. It is about staying in the moment now. Great example for us (as a batting group) to learn from this game. When Rinku and Venkatesh were batting, it was about getting 50-60 runs in 30 balls. It was all about playing it normal for 15 overs and then taking it on. Initially, we thought 170-180 would be a really good total on this wicket, we got extra (because of the Rinku-Venkatesh partnership). We had three quality spinners. Moeen unfortunately could not bowl tonight, but Sunny and Varun bowled well, credit goes to Vaibhav and Harshit as well.

Pat Cummins, Sunrisers Hyderabad captain: Not a great night tonight. In the mid-innings break, we thought it was gettable. It was a pretty good wicket. Gave away few too many in the field and obviously fell short (with the bat). You have to be realistic - three games in a row, it has not come off for us. Less than two weeks ago, we put on 280. Our batters are at our best taking it on, but you have to think about if you could take different options. Probably more (disappointed) with our fielding - a couple of catches, and a few misfields that we have to tidy up. Overall bowling was not bad, they batted well towards the end. We only bowled three overs of spin - did not think there was a lot of spin. Cutters were gripping (for the pacers), so went down that path.

Varun Chakravarthy: It was a very good innings by Angkrish, the way Venky took the innings deep and the way Rinku finished it…felt 200 was a par score, we felt we could defend this. The fast bowlers were very good. All the wickets Vaibhav took were very important. (On Rahane and his captaincy) He is captaining us for the first time, he was the best tonight. We did not go for the other bowler, wanted to drag it till the end because Andre always bowls at the death very well. He is the number one T20 batter and you can never take it for granted when Klaasen is around. The last two games were tough. The loss was really huge. But last year, we had such losses, we wanted to back our batters, not blame each other. Take your time, get acclimatize to the pitch and then in the last five overs, you can score 70-80 runs. Even if you have a good spell today, you have to start from scratch in the next game. In the IPL, everyone takes time to settle in the first four games…so just about building on it.

10:56pm An utterly one-sided contest in the end. Much like the final last year. Or even the Qualifier in 2024. For about 15 overs, SRH seemed to be ahead, with their bowlers tying KKR down. But then, the defending champions took it up a notch. They took it to a level that SRH could come nowhere near matching, and they have been dealt an 80-run defeat, which will affect the morale (of course it will), and will also have a huge effect on their NRR, which even before tonight, was not great.

Arora teed up KKR's defence, removing Head in the first over. Rana then got rid of Abhishek, before Rana returned to send Kishan back. Chakravarthy and Narine then came into their own through the middle, overcoming whatever bits of resistance Kamindu and Klaasen provided, and in the end, KKR got home with ample to spare, which, for SRH, will not be a pleasing sight and is, bluntly put, a damning assessment of how tonight has transpired.

Russell is back

paramdev: "This turns out to be execellent captainacy, take the 5th bowler out of equation" -- Certainly helps when your first four bowlers have bowled the way KKR's have tonight...

Phil: "This will do KKR's NRR a power of good."

Shami is the last man in. Chakravarthy on a hat-trick. Slip and leg slip in place

Simarjeet in at 10

Chakravarthy to bowl out. SRH need 87 off 30, and a miracle

Harshal is the new batter in

Arora to bowl out. SRH need 95 off 36

Oh wow - UltraEdge confirms there was bat involved on 13.3. KKR opted not to review and that is a missed opportunity. Also something to dissect at the time-out. 15 came off the 14th over, but the problem for SRH is that they need six more overs of that ilk (more or less), and that will not be easy, despite having Klaasen at the crease