Sunrisers Hyderabad had a dominant bowling effort, led by left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat’s outstanding figures of 3-21, to defeat Kolkata Knight Riders by 65 runs and win their first game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at Eden Gardens on Thursday.
Unadkat’s spell was the high point of the innings, as it followed SRH’s competition-best total of 226/8. As KKR were bowled out for 161 in 16 overs, he was ably supported by Eshan Malinga, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Harsh Dubey, who kept constant pressure on them throughout.
The win was notable because it gave SRH their first two points of the season, and it was the first time that a total had been successfully defended in the competition this year.
Aside from Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s 52, KKR struggled to counter the disciplined SRH attack, with the pacers making effective use of slower balls. Consequently, they didn’t pose a genuine threat of pursuing the uphill target.
Finn Allen’s 28 runs off only seven balls, which included four boundaries and two sixes in the 25-run opening over bowled by David Payne, marked the start of KKR’s pursuit with a bang. Dubey, however, dealt a decisive blow by dismissing Allen via a well-taken caught and bowled opportunity.
Raghuvanshi’s stroke play was outstanding, and Ajinkya Rahane maintained the pace with a 37-run partnership for the second wicket.
However, SRH responded quickly, with Unadkat dismissing Rahane with a slower delivery that he struck to mid-wicket, and Cameron Green was run out on the final ball of the sixth over, leaving KKR at 74/3.
Raghuvanshi kept on attacking and scored his second fifty in a row off 27 balls before being run out for 52 in the 11th over. Nitish, who had the correct words, quickly dismissed Anukul Roy and Rinku Singh, thus ruining KKR’s chase.
Malinga brought down Ramandeep Singh and Sunil Narine in back-to-back overs, despite a brief counterattack from Narine, who hit two sixes during his 12-run cameo.
Unadkat then went back to get their first victory of the tournament by taking out Kartik Tyagi and Varun Chakaravarthy, bringing his total to 3-21.
Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 226/8 in 20 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 52, Abhishek Sharma 48; Blessing Muzarabani 4-41, Vaibhav Arora 2-47)
Kolkata Knight Riders 161 in 16 overs (Angkrish Raghuvanshi 52, Rinku Singh 35; Jaydev Unadkat 3-21, Eshan Malinga 2-14)