IPL 2026: KKR beat SRH, win third successive match

IPL 2026: KKR beat SRH, win third successive match

Kolkata Knight Riders bagged their third successive win in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) after beating Sunrisers Hyderabad at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

The Knight Riders first restricted SRH to 165 in 19 overs, with Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine sharing nine wickets. The KKR spinners aced the middle overs.

KKR eventually chased down the total in 18.2 overs, winning by seven wickets.

How the chase panned out

Openers Ajinkya Rahane and Finn Allen took KKR to a flier in the chase.

SRH skipper Pat Cummins then dismissed Allen for a 13-ball 29. However, Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi took KKR to 71/1 in the Powerplay.

While KKR crossed 100 within 10 overs, the duo made it a run-a-ball affair.

Raghuvanshi completed his half-century, while Rinku Singh and Cameron Green got KKR home.

Head's blazing knock for SRH

Earlier, SRH started by smashing the KKR bowlers.

Head hammered Vaibhav Arora for 4 boundaries in the second over. He was unstoppable thereafter.

The left-handed dasher took on even Sunil Narine before smacking Cameron Green for three successive boundaries.

With a six off Varun Chakravarthy, Head brought up his 22-ball half-century in the seventh over. However, the former dismissed Head in his next over.

Head's 10th IPL fifty

Head smashed 61 off 28 balls, a knock laced with 9 fours and 3 sixes.

This was his 10th half-century in the IPL, with two of those coming this season. The SRH opener also has a ton to his name.

Head has raced to 1,469 runs from 48 IPL games at an average of 34.16. His strike rate is over 170 (170.41).

Remarkable numbers against KKR

Head now has three half-centuries across seven games against KKR in the IPL. This tally includes 262 runs at an average of 43.66 and a strike rate of 185.81. Head has struck 17 sixes and 25 fours against KKR.

SRH suffer middle-order collapse

Despite a strong start, SRH's batting order crumbled under pressure.

They reached 105/1 in just 8.5 overs, with Head and Ishan Kishan leading the charge. However, once Head departed, things turned south.

Heinrich Klaasen was caught by Rovman Powell off Cameron Green's bowling. After the 10-over mark, Chakravarthy dismissed Aniket Verma and Smaran Ravichandran in quick succession.

Narine gets into action

In the 16th over, Narine got his 200th IPL wicket by cleaning up Salil Arora for two runs. He also dismissed Ishan Kishan (42) in the same over.

Anukul Roy also claimed Pat Cummins's wicket, leaving SRH reeling at 156/8.

The innings came to an end when Harshal Patel was caught by Vaibhav Arora off Kartik Tyagi's bowling.

Narine completes 200 IPL wickets

Narine, who took 2/31, is the first overseas player to complete 200 IPL wickets. Overall, he became just the third bowler with a double-century of IPL scalps.

According to ESPNcricinfo, Narine has raced to 201 wickets across 197 IPL games at an average of 25.53.

Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (228) and pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (215) are the only other bowlers in the 200-wicket club.