Mystery spinners fail again and KKR remain winless in IPL 2026

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) lost their second match to remain winless in IPL 2026. A 65-run defeat on Thursday to Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens was the latest, following last Sunday's 6-wicket loss to Mumbai Indians.

KKR were bundled out for 161 in response to SRH’s 226/8, which was powered by Heinrich Klaasen’s 35-ball 52 after a solid 82-run opening wicket stand between Abhishek Sharma (48 off 21) and Travis Head (46 off 21). Nitish Kumar Reddy contributed with 39 to get the visitors past 200.

Blessing Muzarabani was the pick of the KKR bowlers with 4/41, while Vaibhav Arora bagged 2/47.

KKR’s impressive batting unit, made up of Finn Allen and IPL’s costliest overseas player, Cameron Green, did not fire.

Allen did make an explosive start, with a 7-ball 28 before he was caught off Dubey's own bowling. Angkrish Raghuvanshi helped himself to a fifty (52 off 29) but ran out Green (2) as the hosts struggled in their chase. For SRH, left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat took 3/21 from three overs, while Reddy claimed 2/17 from his two overs.

Varun Chakravarthy was ineffective, going wicketless for 31 runs from two overs, including 25 in one over. Fellow mystery spinner Sunil Narine also could not pick a wicket on the night and leaked 39 runs off his four overs.

Chakravarthy had a difficult season opener, with 0/48 from 4 overs in Mumbai, where Narine returned with not-so-good figures of 1/30 from his three overs.

Brief scores: SRH 226/8 in 20 overs (Klaasen 52, Abhishek Sharma 48, Travis Head 46, Nitish Kumar Reddy 39, Blessing Muzarabani 4/41, Vaibhav Arora 2/47) bt KKR 161 in 16 overs (Angkrish Raghuvanshi 52, Rinku Singh 35, Finn Allen 28, Jaydev Unadkat 3/21, Eshan Malinga 2/14, Reddy 2/17)