The 3rd match of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) was played between the Shreyas Iyer-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the Pat Cummins-led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Saturday, March 23.
Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and elected to field first in the match. They were off to a good start in the match as the SRH bowling unit did a fantastic job and reduced the opposition to 51/4.
The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) players in Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer, and Nitish Rana were back in the hut after failing to contribute significant runs with bat. The hosts came under tremendous pressure and looked like they would get bundled out for a low total.
Despite losing the top order, KKR had great batters like Rinku Singh and Andre Russell, who are game-changers on their own. However, Chandrakant Pandit and Gautam Gambhir made a bold decision and promoted Ramandeep Singh up the order to join Phil Salt in the middle and stabilize the innings.
The KKR debutant didn’t disappoint at all as he played an attacking brand of cricket and smashed the bowlers all over the park. He was involved in an amazing 54-run partnership with the opening batsman Salt.
After the dismissal of Salt and Ramandeep, Rinku Singh and Andre Russell joined forces and annihilated the SRH bowling unit. Especially, Russell looked in beast mode and smashed some monstrous sixes. In the end, the Kolkata Knight Riders posted a massive total of 208/7 on the board. Andre Russell smashed 64 runs off 25 balls while Salt scored 54 runs off 40 balls. Also, Rinku Singh and Ramandeep Singh scored 23 and 35 runs respectively. For Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), the top performer in the bowling department was T Natarajan, who bagged three wickets for 32 runs.
Chasing the target, SRH openers Abhishek Sharma and Mayank Agarwal provided their team with a good start. They both batted cautiously and attacked from time to time. They were back in the hut after contributing identical runs – 32.
The dismissal of the openers led to the arrival of Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markram in the middle. The duo tried to chip in with some runs but they weren’t able to score quickly and were dismissed after scoring 20 and 18 runs respectively.
As the match progressed Team KKR looked set for a win, but that was changed in the 19th over when Heinrich Klaasen destroyed Mitchell Starc. Notably, the left-arm pacer was blasted for 26 runs, and that over brought SRH back in the game.
In the last over, Harshit Rana was handed the ball by Shreyas Iyer and he showed nerves of steel by defending 13 runs against SRH power-hitters and guided his team to a 4-run win. Notably, the pacer was smashed for a six on the first ball, but he made an exceptional comeback.
Here’s how fans reacted on X after the KKR vs SRH IPL 2024 Match:
Faith and determination till the end! #AmiKKR
— Gautam Gambhir (Modi Ka Parivar) (@GautamGambhir) March 23, 2024
Ye Cummins haarne wala script should’ve been used on 19th Nov.
— Manya (@CSKian716) March 23, 2024
King Khan ki team hai dost, blockbuster thriller toh hona hee tha 😎#KKRvsSRH
— Gaurav Kapur (@gauravkapur) March 23, 2024
Warra script pic.twitter.com/WYoRxRA26a
— mon (@4sacinom) March 23, 2024
jeeta hua haar ke jeet ke haar sakte hai
— vishal dayama (@VishalDayama) March 23, 2024
Srh have lost 6 season openers in a row #ipl2024
— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani) March 23, 2024
Klassen is a freak! #KKRvsSRH
— Danish Sait (@DanishSait) March 23, 2024
He was trolled for his celebration but he knows what his worth is.
– Harshit Rana is here to stay. 👊 pic.twitter.com/xY4eTfzK25
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 23, 2024
KKR Spent Mitchell Starc for 25 Freaking crore so that he could make half century in every game for them.😭
— Bhawana (@bhawnakohli5) March 23, 2024
There are a lot of brilliant batters around the world but is there anbody better than Klaasen in T20 cricket at the moment?
I dont think so 😯@IPL #kkrVSsrh
— Tabraiz Shamsi (@shamsi90) March 23, 2024
What a game… Klassen is a special white ball player!
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) March 23, 2024
Welcome to IPL Pat Cummins.
It’s not easy to win here as international trophies. #KKRvsSRH pic.twitter.com/WLKSmCQcrr
— Himanshu Pareek (@Sports_Himanshu) March 23, 2024
Oh boy! What a nailbiting finish!! 🔥 What an over by Harshit Rana to comeback after that 6 and take @KKRiders home!! Exceptional 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
— Robin Aiyuda Uthappa (@robbieuthappa) March 23, 2024
Harshit Rana’s composure in the last over was a marvel to witness from a young Indian fast bowler. Well done KKR.
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) March 23, 2024
Harshit Rana has got nerves of steel.
— Dhaval Patel (@CricCrazy0) March 23, 2024
Harshit Rana : Proper Student of Gautam Gambhir academy 💯#KKRvSRK pic.twitter.com/mYzWoWmX0z
— Cheemrag (@itxcheemrag) March 23, 2024
A brilliant innings by Salt, super all-round show by @Russell12A , a phenomenal bowling performance by Harshit Rana, an insane innings by Klassen for #SRH and then a game-changing catch by Suyash Sharma for #KKR! An absolute nail-biter! Crucial win for @KKRiders!
But Starc? 🤔… pic.twitter.com/LD2p54mTiu
— MANOJ TIWARY (@tiwarymanoj) March 23, 2024
Ye Cummins haarne wala script should’ve been used on 19th Nov.
— Manya (@CSKian716) March 23, 2024
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