IPL 2026: KKR vs SRH Highlights, Match 6 - Stats, Player of the Match & More
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Source: X/@IPL)
Published - 02 Apr 2026, 09:43 PM• Read time - 6 mins
Match Overview
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) locked horns in the sixth match of IPL 2026 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday, April 2. KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane, who became the 11th player to appear in 200 or more IPL matches today, won the toss and elected to bowl first.
The SRH openers - Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma - went all guns blazing, scoring boundaries at will after the first over. Notably, the fifth over bowled by Varun Chakravarthy went for 25 runs out of which 24 were scored by Abhishek. SRH were 71 for no loss now as KKR needed a wicket badly which they did in the next over in the form of Head (46 off 21). But, that did not lead to a drop in the run rate as Abhishek (48 off 21) and skipper Ishan Kishan (14 off 9) continued in the same vein.
KKR were again looking short of ideas until Blessing Muzarabani came back for his second over which produced the wickets of the southpaws. Four balls later, it was Anukul Roy's turn to strike as last match's hero Aniket Verma was dismissed for just a run. Suddenly, KKR found themselves at 118/4 in the 10th over.
Just when it felt like the home team would slow down the scoring rate or even pick up more wickets, Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy turned things around with an 82-run 53-ball partnership. Klaasen reached his eighth IPL fifty off 34 balls as he (52 off 35) and Reddy (39 off 24) helped SRH get to an imposing 226/8 in their 20 overs.
KKR opener Finn Allen resumed from where he had left off in the T20 World Cup semi-final against South Africa at this ground. The Kiwi blasted 24 runs on his own in the first over delivered by David Payne in what became the third-highest run accumulation in the first over of an IPL innings by a single player. But, the party for Allen did not last long this time around as Harsh Dubey accounted for him for 28(7).
Angkrish Raghuvanshi joined Rahane (8 off 10) in the middle and the pair put on a decent 37-run 21-ball partnership before the latter was caught trying to up the ante. The youngster was taking KKR forward almost single-handedly as Cameron Green (2 off 2) failed again.
Rinku Singh and Raghuvanshi kept KKR in the game though not by much as the required rate kept mounting. The right-hander, by the way, reached his fourth IPL fifty in the process before succumbing to a run out soon after for 52(29). Rinku tried his best, but could not take the game deeper, losing his wicket to Reddy for 35(25). Hardly any major contributions followed the wicket as the writing was on the wall large and clear. Eventually, SRH completed the victory by 65 runs as KKR were all out for 161 in 16 overs only.
Top run-scorer of the match
|
Player |
Team |
Runs |
Balls |
Fours |
Sixes |
Strike Rate |
| Heinrich Klaasen |
SRH |
52 |
35 |
4 |
1 |
148.57 |
Top wicket-taker of the match
|
Player |
Team |
Overs |
Maidens |
Runs |
Wickets |
Economy |
| Blessing Muzarabani |
KKR |
4 |
0 |
41 |
4 |
10.25 |
Player of the Match
Nitish Kumar Reddy
Reddy produced an all-round performance to help his team register a big win. The right-hander first added 39 crucial runs in quick time with Klaasen which aided KKR to go past the 200-run mark easily. In the second innings, it was the 22-year-old's turn to change the game with his medium pace. Reddy picked up two wickets of Anukul Roy and Rinku Singh, the latter's being the game-sealing one virtually.
Turning Point
The fifth-wicket partnership of 82 runs between Klaasen and Reddy brought SRH back into the game and in the driver's position. The duo joined forces when the team was down four wickets with 118 runs on the board in the 10th over. Though the run rate was not an issue the situation was such that a wicket or two soon after would have massively dented the team's prospect of scoring more than 200 runs. But, the pair did not let it happen and allowed SRH to score huge.
What the captains said
Winning Team Captain, Ishan Kishan (SRH)
""Not happy with the way I played but really happy the team was committed. Everyone was putting in the energy they put that I asked for. I don't think the pitch was that good to be honest. Head and Abhishek played a beautiful knock out there. The powerplay made the game easy for us because every batter got time to take singles and get a feel of the pitch. Great effort from them and Klaassy (Klaasen) at the end. Team effort. We all know Finn is dangerous but Harsh just bowled that ball and we were lucky to get that wicket. (On Harsh Dubey and Shivang Kumar) Harsh has been doing well for his domestic team and keeping his nerves down and keeping calm in tough situations. I would like to talk about Shivang. Coming here, small ground. But his hard work paid off. He was in touch with all the coaches and trying to understand what works. You saw him bowl with big heart against someone like Rinku."
Losing Team Captain, Ajinkya Rahane (KKR)
"Yeah I thought we needed a couple of big partnerships. Guys who were set needed to take it deep. With the ball I thought we came back really well. In batting, when you are chasing a target, you need that partnership but we didn't get that. (Grass on the pitch) Second innings, I felt the ball was slightly stopping. Slower balls were gripping a lot more than first innings. We thought the wicket would get better but it got slower. But not making excuses. SRH did good use of the slower balls and the angles they used were really good. Winning home games is really important so we have to go back to the drawing room and think about our combination, if we need an extra batter. But we don't need to think too much. Just one bad day."
