Under the mentoring of Gautam Gambhir Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) put on a show in their first match of IPL 2024 and pulled off a thrilling four-run victory against SRH.
The first match at the Eden Gardens was a nail-biting match for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) home team. Although it was not a dominant performance KKR displayed grit and teamwork to pull off a thrilling match in their pocket. Despite, the early batting struggles Phil Salt gave a steady start to their innings with a half-century. As Salt departed, it was a time of Andre Russel’s show, he smashed 64 runs off 25 balls. His knock helped KKR to a total of 208 runs.
However, the thriller was not over after this, the late show from Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) batter Henrich Klassen gave some butterflies to the KKR camp. He was on the verge of getting the victory single–handedly for SRH. But in the end, the combined effort from Russel and Rana from their bowling secured the victory for the two-time champions, KKR.
Gautam Gambhir’s reaction after the win
This year former captain and two-time IPL champion, Gautam Gambhir has joined KKR as a mentor. Under his captaincy, KKR won the title in 2012 and 2014. He took to his X handle and wrote,
Faith and determination till the end! #AmiKKR
Harshit Rana stars in the thriller
On a flat batting track, Hyderabad were 145 for the loss of 5 wickets and at that time they required 61 runs off just 19 balls when Henrich Klassen came to bat. The South African batter took on the Australian pacer who is the most expensive sign in the history of IPL. He smashed three sixes off the Mitchell Starc, while Shehbaz Ahmed added another six in that over. That one over gave 26 crucial runs to the SRH team.
With 13 runs needed off the final over, KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer took a gamble and handed the ball to young pacer Harshit Rana. In the first two balls, he conceded seven runs, then he went on to take the wicket of Shehbaz Ahmed and the Klassen. The dismissal of Klassen sealed a victory for KKR.