IPL 2023: KKR register thrilling five-run win over SRH, keep their hopes live

Spinner Varun Chakravarthy held his nerve to defend nine run in the final over as Kolkata Knight Riders KKR registered a thrilling 5run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad SRH in an IPL 2023 match at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on ThursdayRiding on Nitish Ranas 42 off 31 and Rinku Singhs 46 off 35 KKR posted 1719 on the board in front of SRH clinical bowling display In reply SRH seemed to be struggling to execute their plans as they lost the rhythm after middle overs and suffered a loss in another game at homeAfter a crucial win in their campaign KKR have managed to keep their qualification hopes alive with their fourth win in 10 games this seasonChasing 172 SRH opening duo Abhishek Sharma and Mayank Agarwal got off to a solid start before Hyderabad managed to draw first blood and it was Harshit Rana who dismissed Agarwal in the third overAgarwal went for a pull but got beaten by the extra pace He gloved the ball toward the keeper and Rahmanullah Gurbaz had the easy one Shardul Thakur joined the party in the next over as he removed Abhishek cheaply for 9 reducing SRH to 372Rahul Tripathi took Andre Russell to the cleaners in the sixth over as he got 464 before falling on the next ball Tripathi tried to ramp it over the fine leg boundary but holed out to the deep fielder and Vaibhav Arora took a fine catch KKR reached 533 at the end of the powerplayAlso Read Rinku Rana help Knights post 1719 against SRHThe next over Anukul Roy trapped Harry Brooks lbw for a duck KKR kept SRH at bay with an impressive bowling show as the hosts went boundaryless in the next three overs and were reeling 754 in 10 overs Then Heinrich Klassen and skipper Aiden Markram shifted gears and the duo stitched a crucial 70run partnershipKlassen smashed two sixes against Anukul in the 11th over to release some pressure Aiden Markram went for backtoback boundaries Varun Chakravarthy in the next over to keep SRH in the game When the duo was looking dangerous Thakur came to the rescue for KKR and shifted the momentum as he got rid of Klassen in the 15th overSRH looked much in control when 38 needed off 30 balls but KKR turned the table with brilliant bowling in slog overs as the hosts managed to score 32 runs in the last five overs for the loss of three wicketsKKR got the big breakthrough with an important wicket of Markram in the 17th over to make the chase tougher for the hostsVaibhav Arora started the penultimate over with a wide and removed Marco Jansen on the next delivery Bhuvneshwar Kumar came in and began with a boundary There was a twist in the tail as Abdul Samad smashed a four off the no ball followed by a dot on the free hit With a single on the last ball of the over the equation reached 9 off 6 ballsAfter a couple of singles in the final over Samad went for a big but ended up losing his wicket and 7 needed off 3 to win for SRH Mayank Markande tried to scoop over fine leg and survived a stumping from Gurbaz A single later SRH needed nothing less than a six for a win but Chakravarthy ended the over with a dot and KKR sealed a thrilling 5run winEarlier opting to bat first KKR had a slow start losing two quick wickets in the first couple of overs and later lost the set batter Roy who threatened with a few boundaries as the visitors ended the powerplay at 493While SRH continued with tight bowling Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh got into the rebuilding act as they found big hits in between to keep the scoreboard ticking and went on to score 61 off 40 balls before a brilliant caught and bowled by Markram ended KKR skippers stay on the creaseThen SRH lost two wickets in quick succession in the form of Russell and Sunil NarineMayank Markane removed Russell in the 15th over for 24 and half of the KKR side headed back to the hut in 15 overs And soon Bhuvneshwar dismissed Narine who was beaten by the lack of pace and chipped it towards extra cover where Agarwal ran to his left to complete an easy catchShardul Thakur slashed straight at deep point off the bowling of Natarajan for a big but Abdul Samad completed a simple catch and it was all on Rinku to give KKR the big finish Impact player Anukul Roy came in and smashed two successive boundaries in the 19th over to add crucial runs to the boardThen Natarajan bowled a brilliant last over he first denied Rinku a halfcentury removing him on low full toss and inflicted a brilliant runout to dismiss Harshit Rana on the next delivery He gave away just three off the over as KKR finished with 1719 in 20 oversBrief scores Kolkata Knight Riders 1719 in 20 overs Nitish Rana 42 off 31 Rinku Singh 46 off 35 Marco Jansen 224 T Natarajan 230 beat Sunrisers Hyderabad Aiden Markram 41 off 40 Heinrich Klaasen 36 off 20 Shardul Thakur 223 Vaibhav Arora 232 by 5 runsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to 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