Hyderabad defeated Kolkata and registered its first win of the season, KKR's second consecutive defeat.

New Delhi. Sunrisers Hyderabad scored the highest score of IPL 2026 and registered a spectacular win against Kolkata Knight Riders by 65 runs. Batting first against Kolkata Knight Riders, Hyderabad scored 226 runs for 8 wickets. While Heinrich Klaasen played an inning of 52 runs on 35 balls, Abhishek Sharma returned to the pavilion after scoring 48 runs. Travis Head scored 46 runs on 21 balls. Nitish Reddy played an inning of 39 runs in 24 balls. This is Hyderabad's first win in two matches while KKR's second consecutive defeat.

While chasing the target of 227 runs, KKR team collapsed for 161 runs in 16 overs. The opening pair of Finn Allen and Ajinkya Rahane got off to a fast start. KKR had scored 31 runs in the first 9 balls. On the third ball of the second over, spinner Harsh Dubey caught Allen on his own ball and sent him to the pavilion. Allen was out after scoring 28 runs in 7 balls. After this, captain Rahane also got out cheaply and walked away. Rahane scored eight runs in 10 balls. Although during this time, young Raghuvanshi raised the hopes of the team by playing an inning of 52 runs in 29 balls, but wickets kept falling from the other end. Rinku Singh was out after scoring 35 runs in 25 balls. Cameron Green was run out after scoring 2 runs.

Earlier, Blessing Muzarabani took four wickets for KKR. But thanks to Heinrich Klaasen's fighting half-century, Sunrisers scored a competitive score of 226 runs for 8 wickets. Travis Head got back into rhythm by playing an explosive inning of 46 runs in 21 balls, while Abhishek Sharma scored 48 runs in 21 balls. Both of them once again gave an explosive start to the team with a brilliant partnership of 82 runs in just 34 balls for the first wicket. After captain Ajinkya Rahane's decision to bowl, Hyderabad gained momentum in the beginning against KKR's inexperienced attack by scoring runs at a rate of about 15 runs per over.

Karthik Tyagi broke this aggressive partnership by dismissing the dangerous head in the sixth over. After this, Muzarabani tried to turn the match by taking two wickets in three balls. He sent captain Ishan Kishan (14) and Abhishek, who had spent time at the crease, to the pavilion. Sunrisers team was in a very strong position after scoring 110 runs for one wicket in eight overs, but after this their innings suddenly faltered. The team lost three wickets in just seven runs. Sixth bowling option spinner Anukul Roy further increased the pressure on Sunrisers by dismissing Aniket Verma (one). Sunrisers lost three wickets in seven balls.

Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy (39) had to handle the innings as the boundaries stopped and the run rate slowed down. Both of them made a partnership of 82 runs in 53 balls and laid the foundation of explosive batting in the last overs. Vaibhav Arora curbed Hyderabad's pace by taking the wicket of Reddy in the 19th over, but Klaasen's restrained half-century took the team beyond 220. Zimbabwe's fast bowler Muzarabani took his figures to four wickets for 41 runs by taking the wickets of Klaasen (52 in 35 balls) and Shivang Kumar (four) in the last over.

Earlier, Head, who initially scored one run in four balls, soon changed his attitude and hit five fours and two sixes in the next nine balls, taking the run rate to around 15 per over in the powerplay. Vaibhav Arora tried to stop him by bowling near the leg, but Head appeared to be in full swing. On a pitch with good bounce and pace, the ball was coming easily onto the bat and Head hit a brilliant six over square leg. KKR's inexperienced bowling attack was once again exposed. Sunil Narayan was brought on to bowl early and a chance was created, but captain Rahane could not reach the catch. Head dominated in the initial overs, while Abhishek, after showing restraint, hit three fours and a six in one over against Varun Chakraborty, taking the team to 71 runs without any loss in five overs. Chakraborty gave away 25 runs in his first over.

After this, Ishan Kishan also continued his aggression by hitting three consecutive fours on Karthik Tyagi. However, the decision to hand the ball to Muzarabani in the ninth over proved decisive. Rinku Singh's brilliant fielding played an important role in this. He first took an excellent catch of Kishan at deep cover-point and then completed an important catch on Abhishek's pull shot. After playing cautiously in the middle overs, Klaasen and Reddy scored quick runs in the last overs and took Sunrisers to a big score.