Kolkata Knight Riders have opened their account with a win against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in their first game of the 2021 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). KKR side defended the 187-run target by 10 runs as it proved to be too much for Manish Pandey in the end after they lost a few wickets in quick succession.

Pandey anchored the innings for the Sunrisers with a 44-ball 61* with a strike rate of 138, but the target needed for him to play a little bit quicker as it put too much pressure on the other batsmen to get going from the outset. Hard-hitting all-rounder Abdul Samad did hit a couple of lusty blows after coming in at No 7 was it was too late as the required run-rate had gone out of the reach for the SRH side.

They didn’t have a great start to their innings both the openers by the third over, however, a 92-run partnership between Jonny Bairstow and Pandey came to the rescue for the Sunrisers. Both brought up their fifties and after settling down took the attack to the KKR bowlers. However, Bairstow got restless after playing three dots in the 13th over bowled by Pat Cummins and he hit straight into the hands of the backward point fielder. 

The wicket came at the right moment for the KKR but wrong for the SRH as they just started to amp up towards the 188-run target on a slowish pitch. Sunrisers then lost a couple of more wickets and the innings suddenly lost the momentum and it got to a sluggish end and they fell short of the target despite Pandey and Samad being there at the end.

Earlier, Dinesh Karthik played a decisive cameo of 22 runs off just 9 balls to help KKR finish on a high after they lost four wickets in just 14 runs. Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi stitched a 93-run partnership to give KKR much-needed momentum as the duo ripped apart the Sunrisers’ bowlers. Rana, who recovered from COVID-19 last week came out all guns blazing and nine fours and four sixes in his knock of 80 runs. While Tripathi was the aggressor hitting fifty off just 28 balls.