Kolkata Knight Riders rode on their spinners to seal a spot in the 2016 Indian Premier League playoffs, defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by 22 runs at Eden Gardens on Sunday. Put in to bat by Hyderabad, KKR put on 171/6 on the board and would have felt they were 15-20 runs short of a good total, but some brilliant bowling from Sunil Narine (3/26) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/28) helped them restrict the visitors to 149/8. Hyderabad had already secured a playoffs berth prior to this match.

Hyderabad captain David Warner won the toss and chose to bowl first on an overcast afternoon, considering a chance of rain later in the day. KKR did not get off to a great start, losing their first three wickets within eight overs. However, an 87-run partnership between Manish Pandey (48 off 30 balls) and Yusuf Pathan (52 not out off 34 balls) helped them towards a competitive total of 171/6. Barinder Sran (2/31) and Deepak Hooda (2/16) were the pick of the bowlers for Hyderabad.

Shikhar Dhawan (51 off 30 balls) looked in good flow as the chase began, but did not receive much support from the rest of his teammates as the Kolkata tweakers spun a web around the batsmen. In the end, Hyderabad fell short by 22 runs.