Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, 61st Match - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

KKR move up to the sixth spot and their NRR is in the positive with one game to go for them. SRH, on the other hand, have now lost five in a row. Not so long ago, they were on a five-match winning streak. Both teams' hopes hang by a thread as they have to depend on a few results go their way even if they win their remaining matches. Well, it's time to bring the curtains down on this encounter. Until tomorrow's double header, it's goodbye and goodnight...

Andre Russell | Player of the Match: When I went out to bat, when they were bowling into the wicket, it was a bit difficult. Our bowling attack pulled them back tonight. The mindset is very clear, I practice to go and do that from ball one. The first ball in the nets, I hit for sixes. I get my body ready for any situation, sometimes it might be tough. You have to tough it out at times and stay till the back end, happy tonight. Before the last ball of the 19th over was bowled, I said, "Sunil, try and get a boundary, but let me start the over with the spinner." Offspinner to a right-hander, it's like a kid in the candy shop. I got full tosses and I put it away. Hard work paid off today. Good to contribute in both aspects tonight. I'm just going to keep it going, hopefully we can qualify.

Shreyas Iyer: The mindset we came up in this game, it was simply outstanding. All the boys did the right things, they played fearless cricket. It was really important to win the toss. The teams batting first have won a lot of matches in Pune. Everything panned out really well. We were going over-by-over. The plan was to give Russell the strike as much as possible. We knew Washi had one over left, that was the over we were going to target. Sam was also giving that support. It worked out pretty well, hope it works out for us in the final game as well. It was an over-par total. Sunil and Varun stepped-up on this slow wicket, they bowled smart and got crucial wickets. We never let them to get under our skins, kudos to that. We don't have anything to lose right now. We haven't played our A-game so far in the league, that's what I spoke today before the match started. Also I want to clarify from the last interview. When I took the CEO's name, I wanted to say that he's there to console the players who've been sitting out. It's tough for us as well when we select the team.

Tim Southee: A great win. Every game is a must win for us, so when you win by such a big margin it is really pleasing. I have been around long enough to know that your chances come and go as in this tournament you got quality overseas players sitting on the sidelines so I was just trying to be ready when the opportunity comes and when you do, have a little bit of luck and try and make the most of it. It is tough to replicate match situation in the nets, but if you can try and give it close to match situations, that gives you the best chance. Back yourself and I have been here for a number of years and been in and out of many sides over the years and guess that helps as well. We played here couple of games ago and it was a similar sort of surface and we knew back of a length was tough to hit and stuck to our plans. Obviously two class spinners and the way Narine was able to bounce back after his first couple of overs and everyone else around him as well.

Players to score 300 runs & take 15 wickets in an IPL season:
Shane Watson, 2008 (472 runs & 17 wkts)
Dwayne Bravo, 2012 (371 runs & 15 wkts)
Jacques Kallis, 2012 (409 runs & 15 wkts)
Jacques Kallis, 2013 (311 runs & 16 wkts)
Sunil Narine, 2018 (357 runs & 17 wkts)
Andre Russell, 2022 (330 runs & 17 wkts)

Kane Williamson: I mean largely the first half was good. Dre Russ is always a threat. Showed his class. We tried to create partnerships but KKR were really good. We have been struggling with creating momentum in the last few games. Sundar stepped up in the last over. Using our resources a little early didn't work for us today. We wanted to get off to a good start. We wanted to get some momentum. There were glimpses and signs but wasn't to be. The run rate got up and we were not able to pull it back. The game teaches us lessons and I am learning it right now.

23:16 Local Time, 17:46 GMT, 23:16 IST: A big win for the Knight Riders and they stay alive in the tournament. A brisk start, a mini-collapse in the middle overs and a strong finish allowed them to post an above-par total on the board after opting to bat. Post that, they hardly put a foot wrong with the ball. They offered no freebies in the powerplay and removed the struggling Williamson cheaply. Abhishek Sharma struck a couple of sixes against Narine but he perished trying to up the ante. Similarly, just when Markram started to find his groove, he chopped a full-and-wide ball onto his sticks. With the duo of Tripathi and Pooran too unable to get to double-digits, it was one-way traffic. KKR employed just five bowlers and all of them were among the wickets. Stick around for the presentations...

Russell to Umran Malik, no run, 131.4kph, short of length, Umran Malik swings across the line and misses. The ball bounces over the sticks. KKR win by 54 runs!

Russell to Bhuvneshwar, 1 run, 112kph, off-speed full ball, drilled to long-on

Russell to Bhuvneshwar, wide, 132.5kph, shortish ball down the leg-side, past Bhuvneshwar's pull

Russell to Bhuvneshwar, no run, 136.7kph, yorker, jammed out to backward point

Russell to Bhuvneshwar, no run, 133.7kph, dug in short, Bhuvneshwar doesn't connect with his attempted upper-cut

Russell to Bhuvneshwar, no run, back of a length ball following a backing away batter, blunted to mid-wicket

Russell to Bhuvneshwar, FOUR, wow! That's a classy shot from Bhuvneshwar. Full length ball at 129.9kph, Bhuvneshwar moves leg-side and cracks the drive through extra cover. Bullets away

Southee to Umran Malik, no run, back of a length, Umran Malik defends

Southee to Umran Malik, 2 runs, comedy of errors from KKR! 131.5kph, short of length, Umran Malik heaves and only manages a top-edge. It's a dolly to the fielder at mid-wicket who makes a mess of it by dropping it. He then has a shy at the bowler's end. Southee isn't behind the sticks and the backing up fielder can't stop it despite a dive. And then, the man in the deep misfields too. The batters take two

Southee to Umran Malik, no run, 134.4kph, pitched up, Malik clears his front leg and swings, inside-edged to mid-wicket

Southee to Bhuvneshwar, 1 run, 132.7kph, dabbed to the right of the keeper and the batters set off for a run. Billings runs to his right and is quick to release the ball, but fails to hit the bullseye. A direct-hit would have been curtains for Umran Malik

Southee to Umran Malik, 1 run, 132.4kph, back of a length, Umran Malik stays leg-side and opens his bat-face to steer it to third man

Umran Malik, right handed bat, comes to the crease