2 mistakes and 1 masterstroke by SRH in their IPL 2023 match vs KKR

The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) came up short in yet another 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter as they lost to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by five runs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday, May 4.

The Orange Army conceded 171 runs in the first innings, with Rinku Singh and Nitish Rana playing decent knocks in the middle order. Although they seemed to be in control at one point during the chase, a flurry of wickets led to them falling narrowly short of the away side's total.

The defeat pushed the Sunrisers into dangerous territory, with them now needing to win all of their remaining games to qualify for the playoffs. They will know that they don't have any room for error and that they need to carefully iron out every chink in their armor immediately.

Here are two mistakes and one masterstroke made by SRH in their IPL 2023 match against KKR.

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#3 Mistake - SRH got their batting order wrong once again

KKR had a lot of room to work with when it came to individual matchups

SRH have chopped and changed their batting order in IPL 2023, especially their opening combination. Head coach Brian Lara has spoken about deciding the openers based on matchups, but they paid little heed to those on Thursday.

Harry Brook, who smacked a century in the reverse fixture against KKR while opening the batting, had been demoted to the middle order ahead of the contest. He stayed there, with Abhishek Sharma and Mayank Agarwal facing up against the new ball.

The KKR clash was the perfect opportunity to partner a pace-hitter and a spin-hitter at the top, and Brook needed to open alongside one of Abhishek and Mayank. The Englishman could've taken on Vaibhav Arora, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur and Harshit Rana in the powerplay.

Instead, the Knight Riders were more than happy to bowl pace at Abhishek and Mayank, even prising them out early. Spin was held back for the middle overs and the death, when batting wasn't as easy.

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#2 Masterstroke - The partnership between Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen was a treat to watch

SRH's South African duo took them to the brink of victory

When Harry Brook was dismissed in the first over post the powerplay, trapped in front by Anukul Roy, SRH had a daunting task ahead of them. Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen joined forces at the crease, and the duo steered the ship admirably.

In a partnership characterized by control and efficiency, Markram and Klaasen weathered the storm before the latter decided to cut loose with a couple of meaty blows. They put on 70 runs for the fifth wicket, barely giving KKR any chances to break the partnership and bridging the gap between attack and defense perfectly.

By the time Klaasen was dismissed, Hyderabad were in a commanding position. The South African duo had kept the asking rate in check throughout and their team really should've been able to ride the wave to victory.

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#1 Mistake - Key Hyderabad batters were dismissed off non-threatening deliveries

Aiden Markram [left] played a tennis stroke to be dismissed at a crucial juncture

Klaasen's dismissal was the trigger. The hard-hitting batter spooned a catch to deep midwicket off an innocuous length delivery from Shardul Thakur, leaving Markram with most of the responsibility.

Unfortunately, though, the SRH skipper played an even worse shot to get out. He tried to flat-bat a well-directed bouncer from Vaibhav Arora down the ground, only to be caught at long-off.

Abdul Samad, meanwhile, missed out on a couple of freebies from Varun Chakaravarthy in the final over. The KKR spinner tried to bang the ball into the pitch, but the result was generally a short ball without much venom in it.

Samad first slapped one down to long-on and then tried to clear the long leg-side boundary, but holed out on the ropes. The ball was there to be hit, and the SRH dugout's reaction gave a clear indication of their disappointment at the young batter failing to contribute to yet another chase.

Even though the Sunrisers were in total control of the chase at one point, they managed to bungle their chances due to their batters playing irresponsible and poorly executed shots.