Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) got their first win in the IPL 2026 season by defeating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Not only with his batting, but he also defeated many-time IPL winners with his bowling.
On April 2, Sunrisers defeated KKR by a huge margin of 65 runs. The home team got the run chase off to a good start thanks to an explosive cameo from Finn Allen. It took very little time for SRH bowlers to make a comeback. Without their key fast bowler Pat Cummins, the team’s new-shaped bowling unit secured a spectacular win. KKR got no match against SRH tonight.
SRH openers gave a great start to the team
After winning the toss, Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane decided to bowl first as there is some bounce in the wicket in the initial stages of the match. Like Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata Knight Riders also missed the services of their star pacers.
SRH openers Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head gave their team a great start. Head scored 46 runs and Sharma scored 48 runs in individual efforts. SRH reached the 100-run mark soon after the power play. The Purple bowlers made a comeback through Zimbabwean fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani, who took 4 important wickets.
KKR lacked quality in all departments against Hyderabad
From the middle-order, Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy steadied things against Hyderabad. Klaasen scored a half-century and scored 226 runs for Sunrisers.
Finn Allen’s innings of 28 runs in 7 balls raised the hopes of the home team. But soon he got a reality check. Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s 52 runs and Rinku Singh’s 35 runs kept the team in the contest for a while but for the entire innings. For SRH, experienced fast bowler Jaydev Unadkat took 3 wickets, while Ishan Malinga and Nitish Kumar Reddy took two wickets each.
Ishan Kishan gave credit to the entire team for this important victory.
After the match, Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Ishan Kishan said that Finn Allen’s wicket was very important for him and he gave credit to the entire team for this big win.
“I was happy with everyone’s effort, but I don’t think the pitch was that good. Head and Abhishek made our game look easy. It was a complete team effort. We had planned to take wickets. Harsh bowled that ball and we were lucky to get that wicket,” Ishan Kishan said during the post-match ceremony.
He added, “Yeah, it’s always the team. Was very happy with the way they were committed on the field and, you know, everybody was putting in their energy, and that was something I asked for before the game. And I was happy to see them all put in their effort.”
“So, to be very honest, I give credit to both the batsmen and the classiness of taking it till the end, Nitish played a beautiful innings. So, I think it was a team effort overall,” he added while appreciating the team effort.
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