The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) registered their third consecutive victory in the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 after defeating the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 7 wickets on Friday at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.

Exceptional knocks from Rahul Tripathi (71) and Aiden Markram (68*) aided a clinical chase for SRH, who registered their third win on the trot. 

Chasing 176, SRH lost Abhishek Sharma’s wicket in the second over after the left-handed batter chopped on to the stumps against Cummins. 

Kane Williamson creamed three boundaries before the SRH skipper was bowled by Andre Russell. At the end of powerplay, KKR were 46-2.

New batter Rahul Tripathi started aggressively and whacked four fours and two sixes. The right-handed batter added two more sixes to the total backed with his pure timing. 

Markram joined the party and slammed a four followed by a six against Chakaravarthy. Tripathi brought up his half century off just 21 deliveries as SRH were 95-2 after 10 overs. 

The fifty partnership was up for the third wicket as the runs kept flowing from the bat for SRH. Markram creamed three fours in a row and SRH required 49 off the last 6 overs. 

Tripathi’s knock finally came to an end after the right-handed batter was caught at long-on. 

13 runs came off the 16^th over as Markram continued the batting exploits and notched up his half-century.  The right-handed batter hammered one four and 2 sixes and finished the chase in style. 

Earlier, KKR, who were put in to bat first, made three changes – Aaron Finch, Aman Khan and Sheldon Jackson were named in the eleven.  

SRH claimed an early wicket after Finch was caught behind off Marco Jansen’s bowling. 

Natarajan struck twice in an over to dismiss Venkatesh Iyer and Sunil Narine. While Venkatesh Iyer was bowled, Narine was caught inside the circle. 

At the end of powerplay, KKR were 38-3 with skipper Shreyas Iyer and Nitish Rana at the crease. 

Rana and Iyer eased KKR out of pressure and built a steady partnership for the fourth wicket  after they hit a four each in the 9^th over. However, the KKR skipper was castled by a Umran Malik yorker as KKR were 70-4 at the halfway stage.  

Rana hit two sixes and a four to keep the scoring rate up. New batter Sheldon Jackson hit his first six of the innings in the 13^th over but was caught on the very next delivery. 

Andre Russell announced his arrival with a maximum while Rana reached his half-century in the 15^th over. 

Umran Malik bowled a brilliant 16^th over against Russell which produced only 2 runs. 16 runs were conceded in the 17^th over after Russell dispatched two fours and a six. 

SRH scalped two wickets in the next two overs to dismiss Rana and Cummins. Andre Russell finished with the bat in grand fashion with two sixes and a four as KKR posted 175/8 in the first innings. 

Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 176-3 (Rahul Tripathi 71, Aiden Markram 68*, Andre Russell 2-20) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 175-8 (Nitish Rana 54, Andre Russell 49*; T Natarajan 3-37) by 7 wickets.