KKR’s first game of the season marked the return of two fine leaders, skipper Shreyas Iyer and mentor Gautam Gambhir
The outfit also began its IPL campaign at home after four editions
Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins won the toss and chose to bowl first
KKR pacer Mitchell Starc, returning to the IPL after nine years, rang the ceremonial bell at the stadium alongside Ian Bishop
KKR co-owner and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan was in attendance at the Eden Gardens for the team’s campaign opener
KKR lost Sunil Narine in the second over with a direct hit from Shahbaz Ahmed owing to some lazy running
Shreyas Iyer had a return to forget with the bat, dismissed for a duck by T. Natarajan, who also dismissed Venkatesh Iyer
Phil Salt’s half-century steadied the ship for Knight Riders. Salt, originally unsold at the IPL 2024 auction, was brought in as Jason Roy’s replacement
He had support from Ramandeep Singh, whose quickfire 17-ball 35 bailed KKR out of trouble
Andre Russell stitched an 81-run partnership with Rinku Singh where the former scored 62 runs
Dre Russ’ weekend fireworks gave IPL 2024 its first 200-plus score with KKR recovering remarkably to finish with 208
Abhishek Sharma, coming in as Impact Player in place of Natarajan, opened with Mayank Agarwal
A frosty send off followed Harshit Rana’s dismissal of Mayank Agarwal. Abhishek Sharma fell soon after
Aiden Markram and Rahul Tripathi got starts but could not convert them into big scores. The equation came down to 94 runs needed in 6 overs
Heinrich Klaasen pulled off his own variety of Russell magic with a 29-ball 63, bringing an impossible target down to 13 needed off 1 over
Mitchell Starc had a tough start to his night, conceding 22 runs in his first two overs
Starc finally finished with 53 runs in four overs, having faced Klaasen at his destructive best
Just when SRH started breathing a bit easy, Harshit Rana turned the match around, removing Shahbaz and Klaasen in the span of three balls and sealing a 4-run win