Chennai (TIP): Lesser-known players Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi outshone teammates like Shubman Gill, Andre Russell and Eoin Morgan as they powered Kolkata Knight Riders to a 10-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the third match of IPL-14 here tonight. Rana and Tripathi struck half-centuries as KKR piled up 187/6 after being asked to bat first. Rana top-scored with a 56-ball 80 while Tripathi made 53 off just 29 balls, hitting five fours and two sixers. Dinesh Karthik chipped in with 22 not out off nine balls, while Gill (15 off 13), Russell (5 off 5) and Morgan (2 off 3) were the notable failures for KKR.

SRH made a fine late comeback with Rashid Khan leading the way with figures of 2/24. Mohammad Nabi also took two wickets, giving away 32 runs.

The advantage of taking risks throughout the innings was seen in the end. Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers pulled things back admirably in the last five overs, restricting the scoring to 42 runs for five wickets. But the early assault of Rana and Tripathi had ensured the damage had been done.

SRH’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Sandeep Sharma are the most successful bowlers with the new ball, having taken the most wickets in the powerplay overs in IPL alongwith Zaheer Khan. But they were not spared by Rana and Tripathi. The India pacer who was so brilliant in the just-concluded series against England was taken for 45 runs in his four overs. Sharma bowled his three overs for 35 runs.

Only the SRH spinners offered any resistance. KKR would have been looking at 200 but Rashid Khan and Nabi bowled well under pressure. Khan finished with 4-0-24-2 and Nabi returned 4-0-32-2.

In their chase, SRH had a massive setback when skipper and batting mainstay David Warner fell in the second over. The opener was done in by a beauty from Prasidh Krishna. It was left to in-form Jonny Bairstow and Mnaish Pandey to do the repair job. They put on 92 runs for the third wicket, taking the total from 10 for two to 102, when Pat Cummins broke the partnership by sending back the England batsman. Bairstow scored 55 off 40 balls to justify his selection ahead of Kane Williamson.

Abdul Samad hit some lusty blows in the 19th over, smashing Cummins for two sixes, but it was too little too late to cover up as SRH fell short by 10 runs. Pandey remained 61 not out.

Earlier, Rana was severe on Sharma, taking 28 off 11 balls against him, setting the tone for the innings with three fours in a row in the fourth over of the innings.

Tripathi was responsible for spoiling Bhuvneshwar’s figures when he came on to bowl the 15th over. The KKR No. 3 hit a six and two fours, and with Rana also getting a four, 19 runs came that over. It capped the most dominating period for KKR when they got 57 runs in five overs, to be 126/1 at that stage with Rana 72 off 47 balls and Rahul Tripathi 39 off 24 balls.