Fine contributions from Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh helped Kolkata Knight Riders beat the Sunrisers Hyderabad by 5 runs in a thriller at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Thursday.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Kolkata Knight Riders got off to a poor start as Rahmanullah Gurbaz (0) and Venkatesh Iyer (7) fell to Marco Jansen in the second over.
Karthik Tyagi then got into the act by dismissing the dangerous Jason Roy (20) caught by Mayank Agarwal, while attempting a heave as the Knight Riders slumped to 35/3.
Skipper Rana along with Rinku featured in a solid 61 run stand for the fourth wicket before the former fell to a spectacular catch by Aiden Markram for 42.
Andre Russell scored a quickfire 15 ball-24 before top edging a heave off Mayank Markande to T Natarajan. Sunil Narine fell soon after chipping at a slower delivery from Bhuvneshwar Kumar to Agarwal at extra cover.
The in form Rinku Singh scored a defiant 46 as the Kolkata Knight Riders ended up with a competitive score of 171/9 in their 20 overs.
Chasing 172, openers Abhishek Sharma and Mayank Agarwal got Sunrisers off to a steady start. The pair added 29 runs for the opening wicket before the latter fell to a well directed bouncer from Harshit Rana to Gurbaz behind the stumps for 18.
Left hander Abhishek Sharma (9) then skied a flick off Shardul Thakur to Russell at deep backward square, who took a fine catch, diving forward.
Rahul Tripathi came in and smacked Russell for two fours and a six. However the West Indies all rounder hit back by dismissing Tripathi caught in deep by Vaibhav Arora while attempting a scoop for a 9 ball-20.
Harry Brook’s poor run with the bat continued as he was trapped leg before wicket by impact player Anukul Roy for a duck.
The pair of Aiden Markram along with Heinrich Klaasen put on 70 runs for the fifth wicket before the latter perished to Shardul Thakur for a 20 ball-36.
Markram then attempted a tennis pull off Vaibhav Arora to Rinku at long off for 46.
With 9 needed off the final over Chakravarthy held in his nerve by conceding just 3 runs as the Sunrisers fell 5 run short of the target, finishing their innings at 166/8 in 20 overs.