Sunrisers Hyderabad picked up a comfortable 65-run win at the iconic Eden Gardens in the IPL 2026. The visitors were off to a cracking start, as Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma’s blitzkreig set the tone for the day. They stitched an 82-run partnership, with Head smacking 46 and Abhishek adding 48. After they departed, Hyderabad lost a few quick wickets, but Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy kept the scoreboard ticking and helped the team post a healthy total of 226 runs.
Last year, Hyderabad didn’t care much about the fall of wickets as they played with the mindset of playing an aggressive brand of cricket. In 2026, they seem to have pivoted from the idea and play as per the situation. This decision certainly helped the team in the clash against Kolkata, as Klaasen and Nitish didn’t hurry in the middle overs. They took time to settle down and that played a massive role in the team posting a huge total, which is the highest by a team in the ongoing edition.
Klaasen made 52 runs off 35 balls, while Reddy made 39. For Kolkata, Blessing Muzarabani claimed four wickets, while four of their bowlers conceded over 10 runs per over. They didn’t have a proper plan, as Anukul Roy, who was their most economical bowler, bowled only two overs. Varun Chakaravarthy once again proved costly and that is one area that the team management needs to address.
KKR’s clueless batting
Finn Allen launched the perfect start with the bat as KKR made 25 runs in the first over. The New Zealand international went hammer and tonks against David Payne, who looked clueless. The three-time champions were expected to take it from there, but Allen’s dismissal put the brakes on their innings.
Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who batted at number three tonight, took care of the business after Allen’s dismissal, but he had little support from the other end. Captain Rahane struggled to keep going while Cameron Green was run out following an ugly miscommunication with Raghuvanshi.
However, it was strange for KKR management not to use someone like Narine at number three. Chasing a mammoth total of 227 runs, the hosts needed someone who could carry on with Allen’s momentum, but the franchise wasn’t ready to take any bold calls.
Meanwhile, if one run-out wasn’t enough, Raghuvanshi was involved in another, but this time he had to walk back after scoring 52 runs. Rinku too followed suit soon, scoring 35 runs. Since then, wickets fell like a house of cards as KKR looked extremely poor with the bat. They need more maturity in the middle order to get back to winning ways.
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