Venkatesh Iyer silenced his critics with a blistering match-winning knock of 60 off 29 balls, propelling Kolkata Knight Riders to a convincing 80-run win against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2025 match on Thursday.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s classy 50 (32 balls) in an 81-run stand with skipper Ajinkya Rahane (38) laid the foundation, while Iyer and Rinku Singh (32 not out) provided the late fireworks with a blistering 91-run partnership from 41 balls to lift KKR to 200/6 — their highest total of the season.

Seamer Vaibhav Arora set the tone by removing the dangerous Travis Head (4) and Ishan Kishan (2) in successive overs to return with impressive figures of 3/29 in four overs.

Harshit Rana dismissed Abhishek Sharma (2), leaving SRH reeling at 9/3 in 2.1 overs, while Andre Russell and Sunil Narine also chipped in with a wicket each to make it 66/5 inside 10 overs.

Varun Chakravarthy then cleaned up the lower order taking two wickets in two balls en route to his 4-0-22-3 as SRH crumbled to 120 all out — their explosive batting lineup lasting just 16.4 overs.

The defending champions thus returned to winning ways after losing two of their first three matches and will next face Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, SRH, enduring their third straight defeat, head home to take on Gujarat Titans on Sunday.

After being reduced to 9/3 in 2.1 overs, Nitish Reddy (19) counterattacked Arora with two fours and a six, while Kamindu Mendis (27 off 20 balls) lifted hopes by taking on Andre Russell with a pick-up shot over deep square leg.

But Russell struck back to remove Reddy before Sunil Narine (1/30) accounted for Mendis in the 10th over, reducing SRH to 66/5 at the halfway mark and effectively ending their chase.

Earlier, KKR’s new-look opening pair continued to struggle, with Quinton de Kock (1) and Narine (7) once again falling cheaply after Pat Cummins opted to bowl first.

Rahane and Raghuvanshi steadied the innings, countering early movement with intelligent shot selection. 

The KKR skipper’s back-to-back pull-shot sixes off Shami and Cummins broke the shackles, as KKR reached 53/2 after the Powerplay.

Raghuvanshi showcased his stroke-making prowess with exquisite drives and a stunning reverse hit past backward point, reaching his fifty in 30 balls.

Zeeshan Ansari (1/25) eventually ended the partnership, dismissing Rahane in the same over Raghuvanshi was dropped on 43.

However, the youngster didn’t last long, falling to a stunning forward-diving catch off IPl debutant Kamindu Mendis.

Mendis, making his IPL debut, bowled left-arm spin to right-hander Raghuvanshi before switching to off-spin against the left-handed Rinku Singh in the same over, a rare sight in the competition.

The boundaries dried up for 16 balls before Iyer, KKR’s costliest player this season (Rs 23.75 crore), broke the shackles with a desperate pull off a Simarjeet Singh beamer.

Rinku followed with three successive boundaries off Harshal Patel before Iyer tore into Simarjeet, hammering him for consecutive fours.

Rinku finished the over with a towering six over long-on, yielding 17 runs, while Iyer went berserk against Cummins in the 19th over, smashing him for 4, 6, 4, 4 in succession as KKR amassed 78 runs in the last five overs.

Cummins’ reluctance to use spin despite variable bounce raised eyebrows. Mendis (1/4) wasn’t given another over after his crucial breakthrough, while Ansari bowled just three overs (1/25).

Instead, Cummins trusted his pace attack, which failed to contain Iyer and Rinku in the death overs.

Gujarat Titans pacer Kagiso Rabada has returned to South Africa from IPL 2025 due to ‘personal reasons’. 

The South Africa speedster played in the first two games for the Titans in which he took two wickets for 83 runs.

“Kagiso Rabada has returned to South Africa to deal with an important personal matter,” Gujarat Titans said in a statement on Thursday.

The 29-year-old pacer was not picked for Gujarat Titans’ match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday. 

Arshad Khan was drafted into the playing XI in place of Rabada, and the left-arm pacer picked up the key wicket of Virat Kohli early in the innings. 

In the absence of Rabada, GT could be relying on his South African teammate Gerald Coetzee or Afghanistan all-rounder Karim Janat.

Jos Buttler made a fifty marked by creativity and sustained aggression to support the impeccable spell of Mohammed Siraj as Gujarat Titans (GT) carved a smooth eight-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

Buttler (73 not out, 39b, 5×4, 6×6) and B Sai Sudharsan (49, 36b) added 75 runs off 45 balls for the second wicket, as the Titans ended up at 170 for two in 17.5 overs while chasing RCB’s 169 for eight.

However, the Gujarat side’s chase did not start as they would have liked, losing skipper Shubman Gill for a laboured 14.

The Titans’ skipper clobbered Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a six but fell in the very next ball to the pacer, lobbing him to Liam Livingstone in the deep.

But it brought together Sudharsan and Buttler, who extracted runs off the RCB bowlers in contrasting style.

Sudharsan’s innings was an antithesis to the modern T20 ethos, as it was all about elegantly timed shots such as a wristy flick for a boundary off Yash Dayal or a square cut for four off the same bowler.

There was a touch of impishness too to the innings when he moved across and scooped pacer Josh Hazlewood for a six over the stumper’s head.

However, a second attempt to play a similar shot off the Australian ended his stay, giving a simple catch to Jitesh Sharma. 

But Sudharsan’s dismissal, which came in the immediate aftermath of RCB taking the second ball in the 13th over, was a minor jitter in Gujarat’s chase, which was marshalled so effectively by Buttler.

The Englishman was slightly jittery to begin with but once he found the right gears, he was unstoppable, fetching those thunderous shots off the shelf regularly.\

Buttler reached his fifty with a sumptuous six off spinner Livingstone over long-on off 31 balls and his imperious touch was evident in the three sixes he hammered off Hazlewood to finish the match.

Buttler and Impact Sub Sherfane Rutherford (30 not out, 18b) added 63 runs for the third wicket as Gujarat strolled home.

Earlier, Siraj led a group of fired-up GT bowlers as they limited the vaunted RCB batting unit to 169 for eight despite a providential 54 by Livingstone.

Once the Titans decided to bowl first, they would not have envisioned such a domination over a potent batting line-up even considering a rather unexpectedly slow and grippy pitch.

The slip-down started with the wicket of Virat Kohli (7), who began with a lovely cover driven four off Siraj (4-0-19-3).

But the ace batter fell to left-arm seamer Arshad Khan, who came in for Kagiso Rabada, attempting a pull that ended in the hands of Prasidh Krishna at fine leg.

Thereafter the RCB top-order was poleaxed by GT bowlers led by Siraj, who joined the side after a seven-season stint in the red and gold jersey ahead of IPL 2025.

Phil Salt, who was dropped on zero by Buttler off Siraj, skipper Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal paraded back to the hut as RCB slumped to 42 for four in 6.2 overs.

However, Salt, who slammed Siraj for a 105 metre six, and Devdutt might feel a tinge of regret because both of them tried to give space to themselves for big shots only to get castled by Siraj.

However, the Royal Challengers found some stability through Jitesh Sharma (33, 21b) and Livingstone (54, 40b, 1×4, 5×6) as they added 52 runs off 38 balls for the fifth wicket.

The impressive left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore (2/22), who varied his line and pace exemplarily, broke the alliance, dismissing Jitesh, who skied him to Rahul Tewatia.

It was a redemption point for Tewatia as well because he had earlier dropped Livingstone on 9 off Sai Kishore.

It proved costly for GT as the English batter hammered an off-colour Rashid Khan for three sixes in an over, two in a row, to reach his fifty in 39 balls.

Livingstone milked 46 precious runs for the seventh wicket with Tim David to take RCB past the 150-run mark.