Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], April 3 (ANI): The first innings of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) clash between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the defending champions and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) was defined by skipper Ajinkya Rahane's counter-attack, the defending champions soaring high in their scoring rate due to a fiery partnership between Venkatesh Iyer and Rinku Singh and SRH's death bowling woes since last year.

As per Cricviz Analyst, SRH, the trailblazers of the previous season have used their fiery batting and go-hard-from-ball-one approach as a mask to hide their inefficiency with the ball in death overs.

During their final five overs while bowling, SRH conceded 78 runs. Since IPL 2024 and till the ongoing season so far, SRH's economy rate during death overs is ranked at the very bottom and this is the fifth time in this time frame that they have conceded 70 or more at death overs, the joint most by any team.

Also, the skipper Ajinkya Rahane himself has been sensational as a counter-attacking batter. After his side fell to 16/2 in 2.3 overs, he had a counter-attacking 81-run stand with Angkrish Raghuvanshi and himself made 38 in 27 balls, with a four and four sixes.

In his matches since IPL 2023, Rahane from overs four to six has scored 259 runs in 127 balls with a strike rate of over 203, with only one dismissal. After early loss of wickets, Rahane has been about matching fire with fire since the 2023 IPL, as per Cricviz.

Coming to the match, SRH won the toss and fielded first. Their decision seemed to pay off when they sent Quinton de Kock and Sunil Narine for single-digits, reducing KKR to 16/2, but a counter-attack by Rahane (38 in 27 balls, with a four and four sixes) and Raghuvanshi (50 in 32 balls, with five fours and two sixes) brought them back into the game. After the quick loss of these two stars, Venkatesh Iyer (60 in 29 balls, with seven fours and three sixes) and Rinku Singh (32* in 17 balls, with four boundaries and a six) powered KKR to 200/6 in their 20 overs with a 91-run stand for the fifth wicket.

Mohammed Shami (1/29) and Harshal Patel (1/43) were top wicket-takers for SRH. (ANI)