Nitish Rana’s fighting captain’s knock (75 off 41) and Rinku Singh’s unbeaten fifty (58 not out) went in vain as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 23 runs in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match at Eden Gardens, here on Friday.

After losing three early wickets, Rana held the fort for KKR with his vital innings, which had six maximums and five boundaries while runs also flowed from Rinku’s bat but it wasn’t enough to take KKR over the line.

Chasing a mammoth 228-run target, KKR had a slow start as Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck in the very first over, sending Rahmanullah Gurbaz back for a third ball duck and giving away just one run off the over. After 3 runs coming off the next over, Venkatesh Iyer and N Jagadeesan went for a few hits against Bhuvneshwar in his second over.

Soon, Marco Jansen picked two in two balls to reduce KKR to 23/3. He first sent Iyer packing for 10 and removed Sunil Narine for a first ball duck.

After a dismal start, KKR skipper staged a stunning counter attack, hitting Umran Malik for four boundaries and two maximums and collecting 28 runs off the sixth over, to take the powerplay score to 62/3.

Rana and Jagadeesan continued with the onslaught as the duo established a 62-run partnership off just 29 deliveries for the fourth wicket. But Mayank Markande broke the deadly partnership in the 9th over as he got Jagadeesan (36 off 21), who went for the slog sweep but ended up hitting straight to the fielder.

With 12 runs coming off the 10th over, KKR were reeling 96-4 halfway through. In the next over, Markande struck again to dismiss Andre Russell, piling further miseries on KKR innings.

However, the last match’s hero Rinku Singh came to join the skippe Rana, who completed his 16th IPL fifty off 25 balls. With the asking run-rate kept increasing, Rana and Rinku tried to release pressure with their hits.

In the 15th over, Bhuvneshwar almost got Rinku caught behind, but the KKR batter was quick to review the decision, which was reversed as UltraEdge confirmed that the ball touched the bottom of the bat and hit the ground.

Soon, Nitish was dropped by Washington Sunder and a dot ball later Rinku hit Jansen for a six on the no-ball and followed that up with an amazing maximum to deep extra cover on a free hit, taking 16 runs off the over.

With 70 needed in 24 balls, Rana hit Natarajan for six on full toss before falling in the next delivery while smashing for another maximum but didn’t get the distance and the ball straight to Washington.

Bhuvneshwar conceded just 10 runs in the 18th over and KKR were needing 48 off 12 balls. In the penultimate over, Rinku Singh survived a run-out while coming back for a second. He then hammered four boundaries off the next five balls to bring the equation to 31 off the final over.

After being expensive in his first over, Umran successfully defended 31 runs for his side. He started off the final over with Shardul Thakur’s wicket on the first ball. A single and a couple of dot balls later, Rinku hit a massive six but it was not enough to save the game for his side as 24 was needed off the final delivery.

Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 228/4 in 20 overs (Harry Brooks 100 not out off 55, Aiden Markram 50 off 26; Andre Russell 3/22) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 205-7 in 20 overs (Nitish Rana 75 off 41, Rinku Singh 58 off 31; Marco Jansen 2/37, Mayank Markande 2/27) by 23 runs.