IPL 2025: Aussie stars struggle as Sunrisers go down to KKR

Kolkata Knight Riders beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 80 runs at Eden Gardens on Friday morning (AEDT), handing the visitors their largest-ever defeat in the IPL and their third-straight loss of the season.

After losing two quick wickets in the first 15 balls, KKR rebuilt powerfully through Ajinkya Rahane (38 from 27) and Angkrish Raghuvanshi (50 from 32).

When SRH snaffled both set batsmen around the midway point of the innings there was no letting up, as Venkatesh Iyer came to the crease and crushed 60 from 29 alongside Rinku Singh (32* from 17).

These strong middle-order contributions powered Kolkata to 6/200, establishing them as firm favourites across IPL betting sites at the change of innings.

Odds for KKR to win only shortened as SRH slipped to 3/9 early in the third over, with Travis Head (4 from 2), Abhishek Sharma (2 from 6) and Ishan Kishan (2 from 5) all failing to make starts.

Nitish Kumar Reddy (19 from 15) and Kamindu Mendis (27 from 20) provided some resistance after the early crop of wickets, as did Heinrich Klaasen (33 from 21) after Reddy fell in the seventh over.

However, none could go on to make the kind of big score needed to anchor SRH’s chase, and the remainder of the lineup struggled to get going as Vaibhav Arora (3/29) and Varun Chakravarthy (3/22) took six wickets between them.

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The end result was Hyderabad falling for 120 from just 16.4 overs — their heaviest-ever defeat in the IPL by runs.

SRH captain Pat Cummins shared after the match that despite cricket betting odds being against them, they felt confident they could chase down KKR’s target.

“In the mid-innings break, we thought it was gettable,” he said.

“It was a pretty good wicket. 

“Gave away few too many in the field and obviously fell short with the bat.

“Not a great night tonight.

“You have to be realistic — three games in a row, it has not come off for us. 

“Less than two weeks ago, we put on 280. 

“Our batters are at our best taking it on, but you have to think about if you could take different options.”

Sitting last on the ladder, Sunrisers are now paying $10 for the 2025 IPL title after starting the season among the favourites with top cricket betting sites.

KKR, meanwhile, are priced one line back on $11 at BetOnline.

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