Summary of this article
Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field first
Sunrisers Hyderabad posted 226-run total riding Heinrich Klaasen fifty, Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma's opening salvos
KKR bowled out for 161 runs in 16 overs in response
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) followed up their power-packed batting display with a strong bowling effort to thump Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 65 runs in match 6 of Indian Premier League 2026 at the Eden Gardens on Thursday (April 2, 2026). It was the SunRisers' first win of the season, while the Knight Riders slumped to their second straight defeat.
Heinrich Klaasen set things up nicely for SRH with a fabulous fifty (52 runs off 35 balls) as the visitors posted a total of 226: the highest of this edition so far. Abhishek Sharma (48 off 21) and Travis Head’s (46 off 21) big hitting in the powerplay laid the foundation, while Nitish Kumar Reddy (39 off 24) was involved in an 82-run stand with Klaasen in the latter half of the innings.
ALSO READ: KKR Vs SRH Highlights
In response, Finn Allen (28 off 7) provided an early threat to chase down the challenging target when the New Zealand opener hit boundaries off the first six balls he faced, before spinner Harsh Dubey held onto a sharp return catch. Wicketkeeper-batter Angkrish Raghuvanshi smashed 52 off 29 balls, but the rest of the batting crumbled against seamers Jaydev Unadkat (3/21), Eshan Malinga (2/14) and Nitish (2/17) as the hosts were bowled out for 161 with four overs remaining.
This was the first time in IPL 2026 that a team was able to successfully defend a total. The order of the day has been to win the toss and bowl first, with chasing sides enjoying improved batting conditions.
“Not happy with the way I played but really happy the team was committed,” SRH skipper Ishan Kishan said after the match. “Everyone was putting in the energy that I asked for … Head and Abhishek played beautiful knocks 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.”
“We thought the wicket would get better but it got slower,” said KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane, who struggled to eight off 10 balls. “Winning home games is really important … but we don’t need to think too much. Just one bad day.”
KKR Vs SRH, IPL 2026: Toss Update
Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field first against SunRisers Hyderabad.
KKR Vs SRH, IPL 2026: Playing XIs
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (wk/c), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, David Payne
Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Blessing Muzarabani
Who top-scored for SunRisers Hyderabad against Kolkata Knight Riders?
Heinrich Klaasen top-scored for SRH with 52 runs off 35 balls.
Who took the most wickets for SRH against KKR?
SunRisers' left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat claimed three wickets for 21 runs in three overs.
When will SRH, KKR play next?
SRH will next take on Lucknow Super Giants in Hyderabad on April 5, while KKR will welcome Punjab Kings in Kolkata on April 6.
