Hyderabad: The self-destructing batters let Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) down again to hand a Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) a much-needed five-run win in the IPL here on Thursday, keeping the Nitish Rana-led side alive in the tournament.
Rana and Rinku Singh came up with a fruitful 61-run partnership to help KKR post 171/9 and then Varun Chakaravarthy (1/20) helped the two-time IPL champions limit Sunrisers Hyderabad to 166/8 in 20 overs. Chakaravarthy gave away just three runs in the final over.
Shardul Thakur (2/23) and Vaibhav Arora (2/32) too shone for KKR.
KKR earned their fourth victory of the season and are now on eight points, while SRH, who remained on six points, suffered a body blow to their chances of making the playoffs.
The victory was hard-fought for KKR, given that SRH's South African pair of skipper Aiden Markram (41 off 40 balls) and Heinrich Klaasen (36 off 20 balls) had at one point looked to take the match away with their 70-run partnership.
Markram and Klaasen produced innings of character but their dismissal in quick succession spelt doom for the home side as the later-order batters couldn't get going.
Earlier, it was another forgettable start for KKR with opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz unable to recreate the magic of the previous game against Gujarat Titans.
The 21-year-old Afghanistan opener fell to a length ball from South African quick Marco Jansen off the first delivery of the second over as he tried flick it over mid-wicket but was a tad late and the top edge flew to Harry Brook at mid-on.
Venkatesh Iyer departed five balls later, becoming Jansen's second victim as the tall pacer sent down the short stuff that the KKR batter uncomfortably tried to hook, only to pop it high up in the air for wicketkeeper Klaasen to take an easy catch.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar kept it tight at the other end, conceding just 12 runs in his first two overs.
After bowling two wides and a no-ball, the Uttar Pradesh seamer got the big wicket of England opener Jason Roy.
Roy's premeditated cross-bat heave took a big edge and flew to short third man as Mayank Agarwal took a simple catch.
The pair of Rana and Rinku came together at the crease at a time when KKR were struggling at 49/3 at the end of Powerplay.
But by the time Rana departed in the 12th over, his 31-ball 42 studded with three fours and an equal number of maximums had put the team on course for a decent total.
While wickets continued to fall at the other end, with West Indians Andre Russell and Sunil Narine hardly making an impact, Rinku (46 off 35 balls) curbed his natural instinct and took the team to a fighting total.
