KKR Back In IPL 2026 Playoffs Race? What Win Against Sunrisers Hyderabad Means For Ajinkya Rahane And Co

Kolkata Knight Riders received a massive boost in the IPL 2026 Playoffs race as the Ajinkya Rahane-led side registered a comfortable 7-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday. Varun Chakravarthy took three wickets while Sunil Narine and Kartik Tyagi took two each to bundle out SRH for 165. Travis Head top-scored with 61 off 28 deliveries. In response, Ankrish Raghuvanshi slammed a half-century and Ajinkya Rahane scored a gritty 43 to guide their team to victory. As a result, KKR have 7 points from 9 matches after winning their last three matches. They still need to win all of their remaining matches to potentially guarantee their spot in the Top 4 with 17 points. However, if they win 4 out of the 5 matches, they will have 15 points and in that case, they place in the IPL 2026 playoffs will be dependent on Net Run Rate (NRR) and other results.

Ajinkya Rahane on Sunday lavished praise on his bowling unit for its consistency over the last few games, crediting it for restricting Sunrisers Hyderabad to a below-par total and setting up the seven-wicket win.

Varun Chakravarthy (3/36) and milestone man Sunil Narine (2/31) played key roles in bowling out SRH for 165 in 19 overs as KKR chased down the target with 10 balls to spare to register their third successive win.

"Very good game. The way we came back with the ball. Looked like they will get 190-200. It would've been challenging to chase. But credit to our bowling unit, especially the spinners. They kept taking wickets," Rahane said during the post-match presentation.

"Those small moments are really important, really happy with the win. The bowling unit has been doing really well in last 5-6 games.

"Credit to our bowling coaches - (Dwayne) Bravo and (Tim) Southee. Here and there you will go for runs, but as long as you're clear in your head, that's important. That win was important going into the break." Following their win over Lucknow Super Giants on April 26, KKR players took a short break to refresh and reflect, using the time to regroup before their game against SRH.

"We had 2-3 practice sessions. It's all about being mentally fresh. Support staff has been doing really well. Even though we lost the first 5 matches, atmosphere was really calm," Rahane said.

For Chakravarthy, it was fourth successive match in which he took at least two wickets as was adjudged the Player of the Match.

Rahane said: "Really happy for him. He was always confident. Works really hard, great attitude. He's been bowling the tough overs." Chasing the total, Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Rahane (43 off 36 balls) shared a second wicket stand of 84 runs from 11 overs.

(With agency inputs)

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Topics mentioned in this article

Kolkata Knight Riders Sunrisers Hyderabad Ajinkya Rahane Angkrish Raghuvanshi IPL 2026 Cricket