KKR vs SRH, IPL 2025 highlights: Venkatesh, Vaibhav, Varun power Kolkata to 80-run win

Varun Chakravarthy:  It was a very good innings by Angkrish, the way Venky took it deep and Rinku finished it. I thought we were 10 over par and I felt we could defend this. Vaibhav was outstanding, all the wickets he took were important and I was pleased for him. He was captaining us for the first time (on Rahane), he hasn't played a lot with us and he was on the mark today, we didn't want to leave it to the other bowlers, take it deep and leave it to Russell in the end, he's our best death bowler.

We can't take anything for granted when Klaasen is in the middle, he's probably the best batter in this format. Last two days were tough for us, we were badly defeated in the last game, so the talk was to go go and stay out on the pitch, accumulate runs and then score quickly at the end. You can' take anything for granted, you could bowl well today and go for runs in the next game, just do your practice, hit the gym and go about the work. It was the perfect game for us today, we need to kee building on this, the first 4 games, every team take their time to analyse things.

Pat Cummins: 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.

Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 80 runs to earn second win of the season at the Eden Gardens Stadium. Vaibhav Arora (3/29) and Varun Chakravarthy (3/22) combined six wickets helped KKR bundle out SRH for 120 in 16.2 overs. Andre Russell chipped in with two wickets, while Harshit Rana and Sunil Narine scalped a wicket each.

Varun Chakravarthy further inflicted damage on Sunrisers Hyderabad in their 201-run chase he picked two wickets of Pat Cummins and Simarjeet Singh on two consecutive deliveries. SRH need 84 off 24 balls to win.

Score: SRH - 117/9 after 16 overs (Harshal 2, Shami 1)

WICKET! Vaibhav Arora bowls a good short ball that bounces high on Klaasen (33) as he tries to pull. The ball takes the top edge and goes up in the air towards square leg. Moeen waits under it and takes an easy catch. SRH need 87 off 30 balls to win. 

Score: SRH - 114/7 after 15 overs (Cummins 14, Harshal 1)

WICKET! Varun Chakravarthy bowled a well-flighted delivery around the middle stump. Aniket Verma (6) tried to go for a big shot but couldn't get to the pitch of the ball. He still went ahead with the slog but ended up mis-hitting it straight to Venkatesh Iyer at deep mid-wicket. SRH 121 runs off 54 balls to win. 

Pat Cummins joined Heinrich Klaasen at the crease. 

Score: SRH - 80/6 after 11 overs (Klaasen 12, Cummins 5)

WICKET! Narine bowled a slower ball and shortened the length. Kamindu (27) saw a chance to score but played a weak pull shot without much power or intent. The ball went straight to deep mid-wicket, where Anukul took an easy catch.

Score: SRH  72/5 after 10 overs (Klaasen 11, Aniket 5)

WICKET! Nitish Kumar Reddy (19) was looking to anchor the innings after an early collapse, but his stay at the crease ended by Andre Russell. SRH need 150 off 78 balls to win. 

Heinrich Klaasen joined Kamindu Mendis

Score: SRH - 51/4 after 7 overs (Mendis 22, Klaasen 1)

Sunrisers Hyderabad suffered an early batting collapse in their 201-run chase as Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan followed Travis Head to the pavilion. Abhishek and Ishan disappointing form continues. SRH need 192 off 102 balls to win.

Score: SRH - 9/3 after 3 overs (Nitish 0, Klaasen 0)

WICKET! Vaibhav Arora gets te big wicket of Travis Head (4) in the first over of Sunrisers Hyderabad's 201-run chase. Vaibhav bowled a slightly fuller delivery that moved away late from outside off. Head tried to drive it forcefully, but the movement deceived him. He ended up slicing the ball off the toe-end of the bat, sending it high over mid-off. Harshit backpedaled, kept his eyes on the ball, and took a well-judged catch.SRH need 195 off 114 balls to win.

Abhishek Sharma joined Ishan Kishan at the crease.

Score: SRH - 6/0 after 1st over (Ishan 1, Abhishek 1)

Kolkata Knight Riders set a 201-run target for Sunrisers Hyderabad to chase. Venkatesh Iyer was the star batter for the hosts as he played a blistering knock of 60 off 29 balls. Angkrish Raghuvanshi was quite impressive as he scored 50 off 32 balls. While, Ajinkya Rahane (38) and Rinku Singh (32*) made valuable contributions to KKR's batting after losing openers early in the match.

WICKET! Venkatesh Iyer (60) walks back to the pavilion after playing a fine and crucial knock for the side. A full delivery on middle stump by Harshal Patel, and Iyer swings too early, sending the ball high into the night sky. Aniket waits at long-on and takes a safe catch.

Score: KKR - 197/4 in 19.3 overs

Venkatesh Iyer has delivered when needed as he has brought up his first fifty of the season. Moreover, he took on Pat Cummins to the cleaners as he smashed him for 21 runs, including 3 fours and a six, in the 19th over. 

Score: KKR 187/4 after 19 overs (Venkatesh 50, Rinku 31)

Venkatesh Iyer and Rinku Singh stitched a 50-run partnership as Kolkata Knight Riders relying on the pair for a big finish against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Score: KKR - 166/4 after 18 overs (Iyer 30, Rinku 31)

The middle-order pair of Venkatesh Iyer and Rinku Singh accelerated the Kolkata Knight Riders' innings as they took the team past the 150-run mark in the 18th over. 

Score: 150/4 in 17.1 overs (Iyer 21, Rinku 24)

WICKET! Kamindu Mendis bowls a tossed-up delivery outside off stump. Raghuvanshi (50) tries to hit it over extra cover but mistimes it, slicing the ball off the edge. The ball goes towards deep backward point, where Harshal runs in and takes the catch.

Rinku Singh joined Venkatesh Iyer at the crease. 

Score: KKR - 108/4 after 13 overs (Iyer 3, Rinku 1)

FIFTY! Angkrish Raghuvanshi gets the first of the season. Kamindu Mendis bowls a very full delivery outside off stump. Raghuvanshi drives it to long-off and reaches his second IPL fifty.

WICKET! Zeeshan Ansari bowls a slow delivery outside off stump. Ajinkya Rahane (38) tries to play the shot too early, and the ball hits his glove before popping up to the keeper. Klaasen takes an easy catch.

Venkatesh Iyer joined Angrkish Raghuvanshi at the crease. 

Score: KKR - 97/3 after 11 overs (Raghuvanshi 43, Iyer 0)

After Pat Cummins and Mohammed Shami made early inroads after dismissing Quinton de Kock and Sunil Narine, respectively, Sunrisers Hyderabad's bowlers are eyeing for the third wicket as Kolkata Knight Riders' duo of Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi accelerated the hosts' innings. 

Score: KKR - 84/2 after 10 overs (Rahane 38, Raghuvanshi 31)

After losing openers in Quinton de Kock and Sunil Narine, skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi carried on Kolkata Knight Riders as the pair took the team past 50-run mark inside powerplay. 

Score: KKR - 53/2 after 6 overs (Rahane 21, Raghuvanshi 16)

WICKET! Mohammed Shami bowled a perfect yorker, full and wide outside off. Sunil Narine (6) moved away and tried to guide it to the off-side. The ball hit his bat first, then the bat hit the ground, which confused Narine. However, Klaasen took a clean catch.

Angrkish Raghuvanshi joined Ajinkya Rahane at the crease. 

Score: KKR - 17/2 after 3 overs (Rahane 1, Raghuvanshi 1)

WICKET! SRH skipper Pat Cummins gets the first breakthrough for the side by dismissing Quinton de Kock for 1. Cummins bowled a short ball, and de Kock tried to play a pull shot. But he was a bit late and didn't hit it well. The ball went high in the air towards deep mid-wicket. Ansari ran in, bent forward, and took an easy catch.

Ajinkya Rahane joined Sunil Narine at the crease.

Score: KKR - 14/1 after two overs (Narine 6, Rahane 0)

SIX! Pat Cummins bowls a short ball just outside off. Sunil Narine stays upright and powerfully pulls it over mid-wicket. The ball flies into the stands for a six.

Score: KKR - 13/0 in 1.1 overs

The middle-order batter Rinku Singh set to make his 50th appearance for Kolkata Knight Riders. He joined KKR in 2018 and since then. he has been part of the team. The Kolkata-based IPL franchise retained Rinku Singh for INR 13 crore. Ahead of the clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rinku received a special KKR jersey to mark the ocassion.

Pat Cummins (SRH): We will bowl. Looks like a good surface, but I'm terrible at reading it. They outplayed us in the final, but a bit of change in both sides. We've spoken about our batting, we've been at our best while being aggressive, but we can't be reckless. He has been amazing, doesn't get unfazed by any situation. Coordination is the key, but we do have a clear idea.

Ajinkya Rahane (KKR): Looks good, I'm really happy with the pitch, we were also bowling first. It will suit our spinners, at home, you should get what you want, but we'll need to assess the situation quickly with the bat. We sat together, discussed how we can get better, but this is a long tournament and it was one bad day. Moeen Ali comes in place of Spencer Johnson. Regardless of all plans, we'll have to come out and do well in the middle. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Aniket Verma, Heinrich Klaasen (WK), Kamindu Mendis, Simarjeet Singh, Pat Cummins (C), Harshal Patel, Mohammed Shami, Zeeshan Ansari

Kolkata Knight Riders: Quinton de Kock (WK), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (C), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ramandeep Singh

Sunrisers Hyderabad decided to bowl first after winning the toss against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata.

Pommie Mbangwa and Eoin Morgan: 62m and 64m square boundaries with the straight boundary at 75m. The pockets aren't too big either, at 69m and 70m respectively. A pretty good surface, it's really firm and well put together, well grassed. But there is an area where there are some spots which can be worked out by the spinners. You can bowl a full length, hit those spots and get some spin with the new ball as well. 100% chase if you win the toss, a hot day at around 35 degrees, dew could come in and make the ball skid.

Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders are squaring for the 29th time in the IPL. In their last 28 encounters, KKR emerged victorious on 19 ocassions, while SRH won 9 matches. Their last face off was in the IPL 2024 final, where Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad to win their third title of the tournament. 

Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (C), Rinku Singh, Quinton de Kock (WK), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Luvnith Sisodia, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Ramandeep Singh, Andre Russell, Anrich Nortje, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markande, Spencer Johnson, Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Chetan Sakariya.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins (C), Ishan Kishan (WK), Atharva Taide, Abhinav Manohar, Aniket Verma, Sachin Baby, Heinrich Klaasen, Travis Head, Harshal Patel, Kamindu Mendis, Wiaan Mulder, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Shami, Rahul Chahar, Adam Zampa, Simarjeet Singh, Zeeshan Ansari, Jaydev Unadkat and Eshan Malinga.