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The Knights gave another display of their fighting spirit in the last match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens on Friday. Chasing 228 to win, the Knights despite losing early wickets kept fighting till the final overs courtesy another excellent showing from the middle order. The fighting spirit the boys have shown with their backs against the wall, is reminiscent of the KKR sides who won the title in 2012 and 2014. Our opponents haven’t had the best of starts, losing their first 2 games but have recovered from their early struggles to beat Delhi Capitals in their last outing, while the Knights have 2 victories and 2 losses so far in this edition of the IPL.

The Knights suffered a setback at home, losing to the Sunrisers by 23 runs as centurion Harry Brook powered Sunrisers to a mighty total of 228 runs earlier in the evening. Winning the toss, Skipper Rana chose to bowl, preferring to chase on a wicket which promised a lot of runs. Put into bat first, the Sunrisers got off to a good start of 46 off the first 4 overs as Englishman Brook looked in great nick. Andre Russell who hadn't yet bowled a ball in this year's IPL, was then handed the ball and the big Jamaican bowled an over that immediately got us back into the thick of things removing Mayank Agarwal for 9 off the first ball of the over and then Rahul Tripathi for 9 off the final ball of the over. However, the Sunrisers continued to make the best use of the conditions and Harry Brook stitched together twin 72 run stands, first with skipper Aiden Markram and then with Abhisekh Sharma which powered the visitors well over the 200 mark. Harry Brook who carried his bat through the innings brought up his 100 in the final over of the innings as the Sunrisers put up a mammoth 228 on the board.

Talented opening batsman Aarya Desai has joined KKR for the rest of the season. The 20 year old, who plays for the Gujarat State Team, has been signed for his base price of 20 Lakhs. Desai, earned his place in the Gujarat State side earlier this year, and has scored 151 runs in 3 matches with a half century to his name. The youngster who is yet to represent his state team in LIST A or any T20 competition, but will look to make a name for himself now in the premier T20 competition in the world.

After losing their first match to Punjab Kings by 7 runs via DLS method, Kolkata Knight Riders have staged an impressive turnaround, winning two consecutive fixtures against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) respectively. The two-time TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) champions currently occupy the third spot in the league table with an NRR of 1.375. The Knights will next play against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens on April 14, Friday. The two sides have faced each other 23 times so far, with 17 of those games taking place in India. The Knights lead the head-to-head record 15-8. One game (in Abu Dhabi in 2020) ended in a tie, but KKR bagged two points from it by virtue of winning the super over. The last time these two teams crossed paths at the Eden Gardens on 24th March 2019, KKR emerged victorious by 6 wickets. As Nitish Rana and Co. gear up to host SRH after a four-year hiatus in Kolkata, we take a look at the Knights’ top five wins against the Hyderabad-based franchise:

After pulling off an incredible heist against the defending champions at their homeground, the Knights return home to host Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens on Friday. The Knights enjoy a great record against the Sunrisers, winning 15 of the 23 matches the sides have played against each other and will look to add another ‘W ‘when the two teams step onto the ground tomorrow. Buoyed by two back to back wins which saw heroics from the likes of Shardul Thakur, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer and Skipper Rana, the Knights think tank will be proud of how the season has started after suffering from major injury setbacks in pre-season.

On a night when Rinku Singh deservingly grabbed the headlines for pulling off a once in a lifetime final over chase, the Knights coaching staff would be mighty pleased with Venkatesh Iyer’s personal best - 83 0f 40 balls, earlier in the innings which revived KKR’s run chase after a shaky start at the top. The talented southpaw possesses the ability to single handedly take games away from the opposition, a characteristic that first brought him into the limelight after his exploits in the UAE in 2021.

The flamboyant keeper-batter from Bangladesh, Litton Das landed in Kolkata on Sunday to join the Knights camp to further strengthen a batting line up that is brimming with young talents and experienced stalwarts of the game. This will be Litton’s first outing as an IPL player after KKR snapped him up for his base price of 50 lakhs in the team auction held last year.

We have often heard stories of how young batsmen have approached senior players in the squad for their bats before playing some incredible knocks and something similar played out last night when Rinku Singh approached Skipper Rana for a bat before unleashing an innings for the ages at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The duo who share a great bond off the pitch having donned the purple and gold for the last 5 years, now have a tale they can bring up in social gatherings for decades to come!

Over the last couple of seasons, Rinku Singh has started to show us why exactly the Knights think tank has reposed their faith in him through the ups and down over the last 4 years. There were two knocks last season, one the 40 he got in 15 balls against Lucknow and the other the 42*, he got against Rajasthan Royals to take us home, which gave the impression that Rinku was turning a corner and living up to his true potential. On Sunday afternoon, Rinku Singh who also played a crucial hand in the win last week against the Royal Challengers, took the world by storm by scripting history, smashing 5 consecutive sixes in 5 balls to take KKR home, leaving everyone watching in euphoria.

You would need to pinch yourself several times while watching that final over in order to believe what panned out in the final over of our match against Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Needing an improbable 29 of the last over with 7 wickets down and 28 of the last 5 balls, Southpaw Rinku Singh pulled off an incredible heist, smashing Yash Dayal for 5 maximums in as many balls to take the Knights home in dramatic fashion to finish unbeaten on 48 of 21 balls. Deservingly, Rinku took home the Man of the Match award as well for an innings that will be added to the KKR Hall of Fame and stay in the memories of all our fans and neutrals for years to come.

After securing a big win against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Eden the Knights next face defending Champions Gujarat Titans who have looked in prime form winning both their games so far in TATA IPL 2023. The Knights will go into this game with confidence on the back of the win in midweek but will also be aware of the threat the Titans bring on the pitch. Our spinners looked in imperious form in the previous game, sharing 9 wickets between themselves to mark the biggest haul for spinners in an IPL innings. Varun Chakravarthy was the pick of the lot picking 4 crucial wickets and the Knights will be hoping he continues to be in the thick of things as the season progresses.

JASON ROY JOINS THE KNIGHTS | TATA IPL 2023