KKR whacked SRH by a monstrous 80 runs with 20 balls to spare, thanks to the exploits of the troika of Venkatesh, Vaibhav, and Varun, who plotted a perfect battle plan to rout the visitors.

The highlight of the day was the duo Vaibhav Arora and Varun Chakravarthy, who broke the spine of SRH and dismissed any chances of a fightback.

Arora returned with figures of 3 for 29 and Varun 3 for 22, while Venkatesh Iyer returned to form in style, contributing an invaluable 60.  

Set to chase KKR’s 200 for six wickets, SRH folded up for 120 in 16.4 overs making it three losses in a row for the visitors. For KKR it would be a huge boost ahead of their home game against LSG. 

KKR has boasted of one of the finest line-ups of finishers and it was on show today. Rinku Singh and Venkatesh Iyer decided to return to form against SRH and the duo smashed 78 runs of just 30 balls in a run fest as KKR reached the 200 mark at the end of the innings.  

Rinku Singh upped the ante from the 15th over. Three boundaries of a Harshal Patel over and a four and a six of Simarjeet in the very next set the tempo.

Rinku played a little unbeaten gem of 32 off just 17 balls. Venkatesh Iyer, meanwhile, lived up to his price tag by threading the packed offside field for boundaries.

He showed his class as he got Cummins for three straight boundaries and a six and then clobbered Harshal for a six and four in the first two balls of the 20th over. The next ball he sent high into the night sky for Aniket Verma to complete a fine catch to send him back for 60 of just 29 balls and a strike rate over 200. 

Earlier, Cummins won the toss and opted to bowl. KKR brought in Moen Ali in place of Spencer Johnson and SRH introduced Kamindu Mendis in place of Travis Head. KKR slipped into their regular rut losing Quinton de Kock and Sunil early. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi stemmed the rot as KKR reached 84 for 2 at the halfway mark. 

Rahane, who by now had hit four sixes and a boundary, was looking solid. But again, a moment of madness saw him try a reverse sweep and give a dolly to Klassen off Zeeshan Ansari for 38, bringing an end to the 81-run partnership for the third wicket with Angkrish, who got a lucky break dropped by Nitish Reddy off Simarjeet Singh at 43.

He reached 50 off 30 balls with KKR on 105 for 3 in 12.1 overs. But departed three balls later to Kamindu Mendis after an innings studded with five boundaries and two sixes. 

SRH began their chase disastrously, with Impact Sub Vaibhav Arora dismissing SRH Impact Sub Travis Head to a superbly collected tumbling catch from a back-peddling Harshit Rana in the first over, Next over it was Rana’s turn to celebrate, sending Abhishek Sharma back to a fine catch at first slip of a thick edge.

Ishan Kishan was the next to go and Arora the catalyst to a low diving catch from Rahane. With the scoreboard reading 9 for 3 at the end of the third over things looked grim.

Kamindu Mendis and Nitish Reddy came together only to see the latter hit a half-volley from Andre Russel to long on straight into Sunil Naine’s safe hands. 51 for four after 7 overs and 201 looked like a decent target for the first time in the match.

KKR kept on chipping at the wickets with Sunil Narin and Varun Chakravarthy getting into their act. Kamindu Mendis who looked good during the stay was gone for 27 (20b 1x4 2x6) pulling Sunil as far as mid-wicket for substitute Anukul Roy taking a catch.

Aniket Verma (6) fell to Varun’s guile to make it 80 for 6 at the end of 11th over. Klassen (33) threatened to take the challenge to KKR, but cunning captaincy from Ajinkya saw Arora return to claim the prized scalp.

Varun came for his last over and took two wickets, in skipper Pat Cummins and Simarjeet Singh, in his first two balls. SRH innings folded for 120 off 16.4 overs as Andre Russell got Harshal Patel to close out their misery.