KKR vs SRH match no#15 of IPL 2025, KKR won by 80 runs.
Kolkata Knight Riders’ struggling middle order finally delivered in their IPL match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (KKR vs SRH). Venkatesh Iyer silenced his critics with a blistering 25 ball fifty while young Angkrish Raghuvanshi struck a fluent half century. Their efforts powered KKR to a strong total of 200/6 at Eden Gardens.
KKR’s new opening pair failed once more. Quinton de Kock (1) and Sunil Narine (7) fell cheaply after SRH chose to bowl first. Pat Cummins removed de Kock with a short ball while Mohammed Shami dismissed Narine with a wide yorker. KKR slumped to 16/2 in just 2.3 overs.
Ajinkya Rahane (38 off 27) and Raghuvanshi (50 off 32) rescued KKR with an 80 run stand. Rahane broke free with two big sixes while Raghuvanshi played stylish shots, including a reverse hit and a lofted six. He reached his fifty in 30 balls but fell soon after to Sri Lankan debutant Kamindu Mendis who bowled with both hands in the same over.
After losing Rahane and Raghuvanshi, KKR slowed down. But Venkatesh Iyer (60 off 29) and Rinku Singh (32* off 17) reignited the innings. Iyer smashed a beamer from Simarjeet for four then Rinku followed up with three consecutive boundaries off Harshal Patel. Iyer then destroyed Cummins in the 19th over, hitting 4, 6, 4, 4 in four balls. KKR hammered 78 runs in the last five overs to cross 200.
SRH’s batting crumbled under pressure. They managed just 120 runs and suffered an 80-run defeat. Their top three Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan scored just eight runs combined. Vaibhav Arora dismissed Head for a duck, just like in last year’s IPL final. Harshit Rana and Rahane took sharp catches to remove Abhishek and Kishan leaving SRH at 9/3.
Nitish Reddy and Heinrich Klaasen tried to fight back. Reddy hit a few big shots and Mendis smashed two sixes off Andre Russell. But KKR’s spin duo of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy stifled SRH. From overs 8 to 12 they gave away only 33 runs and took two wickets. Arora later removed Klaasen and Varun nearly took a hat-trick in the 16th over. SRH folded for 120, suffering their worst defeat in IPL history.
Iyer was KKR’s most expensive buy at ₹23.75 crore in the auction and he proved his worth. He played some stunning shots especially against Cummins. In the 19th over, he scooped a slow bouncer for four, pulled a short ball for six then smashed back-to-back fours. He reached his fifty in just 25 balls. He began the final over with a six and a four before getting out for 60 at a strike rate of 206.89.
After the innings V. Iyer said, “The ball was holding up a bit. This was not the Eden Gardens pitch I am used to. But we have a good competitive score. I didn’t score in the first two games so I wanted to settle in before attacking.”
KKR’s dominant win lifted them from last place to fifth in the table (KKR vs SRH). Meanwhile SRH dropped to the bottom struggling with three straight losses after scoring a record 286 in their season opener.
