IPL-17: KKR vs SRH | Russell, Salt fifties carry KKR to four-run win over SRH despite Klaasen’s heroics

Russell’s brutal unbeaten 64 off 25 balls with three fours and seven sixes and Phil Salt’s more pragmatic 54 off 40 balls guided KKR to 208 for seven.

Kolkata Knight Riders’ Andre Russell scored a brilliant half-century and his partnership with Rinku Singh took his team past 200 during the IPL match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Kolkata on March 23, 2024. | Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak

Andre Russel’s all-round effort headlined Kolkata Knight Riders’ sweaty four-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL match here on Saturday.

Russell’s brutal unbeaten 64 off 25 balls with three fours and seven sixes and Phil Salt’s more pragmatic 54 off 40 balls guided KKR to 208 for seven.

Left-arm pacer T Natarajan was their most successful bowler with a three-wicket haul (3/32). At several points, SRH threatened to chase 208 down, particularly when Heinrich Klaasen (63, 29b, 8x6s) went berserk in the backend of the innings.

But the Hyderabad side fell agonisingly close to the target.

Brief scores

Kolkata Knight Riders: 208 for 7 in 20 overs (Andre Russell 64 not out, Phil Salt 54; T Natarajan 3/32) Sunrisers Hyderabad: 204/7 in 20 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 63, Mayank Agarwal 32; Harshit Rana 3/33, Andre Russell 2/25)

Squads

Kolkata Knight Riders: Venkatesh Iyer, Phil Salt (wk), Shreyas Iyer (capt), Rinku Singh, Nitish Rana, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh,Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Marco Jansen, Pat Cummins (capt), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, T Natarajan.