IPL 2021 Match 3: Kolkata Knight Riders beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 10 runs — as it happened

Clinical Kolkata Knight Riders start with a 10-run win

Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders hardly put a foot wrong when they started their campaign in IPL XIV with a 10-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai today.

Chasing an imposing target of 188 for a win, the Sunrisers were off to a disastrous start as they lost both their openers - skipper David Warner and Wriddhiman Saha with only 10 runs on the board.

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A defiant 92-run partnership between the in-form Jonny Bairstow (55) and Manish Pandey (unbeaten 61) kept them in the chase, while young Abdul Samad struck a few lusty blows in the end  to try and make a match of it but it was still not enough.

Earlier, a magnificent 80 as an opener by Nitish Rana (56 balls, 9 fours & four sixes) and a classy 53 (29 balls, 5 boundaries & two sixes) by Rahul Tripathi spurred the Kolkata Knight Riders to a potentially winning total of 187 for six after they were went in.

HALF TIME REPORT: Knights pile up a daunting total against Sunrisers

Kolkata: A magnificent 80 as an opener by Nitish Rana (56 balls, 9 fours & four sixes) and a classy 53 (29 balls, 5 boundaries & two sixes) by Rahul Tripathi spurred the Kolkata Knight Riders to a potentially winning total of 187 for six against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai this evening.

Being sent into bat, Rana and Shubhman Gill put up 53 runs for the first wicket - the best effort from Knights openers in a while. If Rana stole the thunder, No.3 Tripathi played his part as the duo put together a 97-run stand for the second wicket.

It will need a resolute effort from the Sunrisers batting line-up on a challenging Chepauk wicket now.

Sunrisers, Knight Riders in absorbing battle

Kolkata: Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to keep up their reputation for consistency in the Indian Premier League (IPL) when they open their campaign against a gritty Kolkata Knight Riders at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai today.

In what could be a battle of spinners on a slow Chepauk track, both sides look well-equipped with the devastating Rashid Khan leading the attack for Sunrisers while the Knights have plenty of options to choose from in their time-tested mystery spinner Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and the veteran Harbhajan Singh.

The two teams are the ones with overseas captains in this edition of the league - with Australian David Warner turning out to be a talismanic figure for the Sunrisers ever since winning the trophy almost singe-handedly for them in 2016. Eoin Morgan, who has come a long way since being a winning team for KKR in 2012, has matured as leader and will have the benefit of leading the team from the first game.