KKR vs SRH IPL 2024: Heinrich Klaasen's incredible knock in vain as Kolkata clinch final over thriller

Heinrich Klaasen's heroic innings went in vain as Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Sunriers Hyderabad in a thriller all thanks to Harshit Rana's incredible last over in which he defended 13 runs and grabbed 2 wickets.

After winning the toss and opting to bowl first, SRH bowlers started brilliantly as KKR lost 3 wickets inside the powerplay overs. Phil Salt, who was making his IPL debut played a sensible innings and held on to one end and scored 54 runs in 40 deliveries which included 3 fours and as many sixes.

But, it was Andre Russell and Rinku Singh's brutal power-hitting at the end that took KKR's score past 200. During this course, Russell completed his half-century in 20 deliveries and ended up scoring 64 in 25 deliveries which included 7 sixes whereas Rinku Singh also played an impressive knock of 23 runs in 15 deliveries.

SRH, on the other hand, had a brilliant start to their innings and scored took score over 60 after the first six overs but the KKR bowlers kept taking wickets at regular intervals. Mayank Agarwal and Abhishek Sharma scored 32 runs each for SRH whereas middle-order batters like Aiden Markram and Rahul Tripathi also got the start but failed to convert it into a big score.

SRH required 101 runs in the last 8 overs with big hitters like Klaasen and Samad on the crease but KKR bowlers kept bowling tight lines and lengths to keep both the batters quiet. SRH required 74 runs in the final 4 overs and that was when Abdul Samad decided to show his muscle power and played some brilliant shots but, Andre Russell had the last laugh as he dismissed Samad in the same over.

From there on, It was all Heinrich Klaasen's show as the South African wicketkeeper-batsman went berzerk as SRH scored 21 runs in the 18th over and 26 runs in the 19th over which was bowled by IPL's most expensive player, Mitchell Starc.

SRH needed 13 runs in the final over and were favourites to win the game and Klaasen smashed six off the first delivery but it was Harshit Rana who kept his cool and dismissed Shahbaz Ahmed in 3rd delivery and Klaasen in the 5th delivery of his over. SRH required 5 runs off the final delivery but skipper Pat Cummins failed to connect and KKR won the match by 4 runs.

IPL 2024: Andre Russell pummels SRH bowlers; brutal six-hitting show propels KKR past 200