Kolkata Knight Riders have turned Sunrisers Hyderabad into the proverbial punching bag. On Thursday night at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata where empty seats caught the eye, KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane upstaged SRH skipper Pat Cummins as the defending champions coasted to an 80-run victory.

KKR produced a performance which justifies their hype, and, this time, there was no cribbing over the nature of the pitch or what the curator had done. Yes, there was pressure on KKR, but the defining overs, 16th to 20th turned out be very productive.

To say that it was a batting carnage where Venkatesh Iyer, the vice-captain bought a fancy price of Rs 23.75 crores, and Rinku Singh launched an assault on the bowlers would be stating the obvious as the last five overs produced 78 runs.

For those who have been shedding tears, KKR have not played to potential, what they produced as defending champions was very different. To think only two men - Venkatesh and Rinku - did the job is wrong.

Rahane had laid the platform with 38 runs off 27 deliveries. For someone described as a conventional batter, one four and four sixes defined him as a T20 batter who can wade into the rival bowling side.

That set up the tempo for KKR as Rahane and Angriksh Raghuvanshi (50 runs), just 20 years of age, batted well. The stage was ideal for Venkatesh Iyer to come in at No.5 and produce one of his typical knocks.

For those who had tracked the IPL 2024, and, notably the IPL final last May in Chennai, KKR looked supreme. The way Venkatesh Iyer batted was a bit different. He read the attack, Pat Cummins included, took his time to settle down and then went full throttle.

This kind of maturity has come in with the additional responsibility of being vice-captain of the team, though, some felt he should have been leading the side. KKR have done well to ensure Venkatesh Iyer is not overburdened with captaincy and he can learn the tricks of the trade from Rahane.

Rahane is the classical cricketer who can still adapt to the format and situation. If you see him in domestic cricket even now, the way he bats for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy is different from what he does in white-ball cricket. He faced criticism early on in IPL 2025, but that was not needed.

Some even suggested he could be replaced midway through this season. That's bilge, for KKR took time in appointing Rahane as skipper. The decision was one of investment and not instant results, like cooking up the unhealthy noodles in two minutes.

Rahane is cool and a great mentor for KKR. How he has managed to develop that power and timing to unleashes sixes, he can thank CSK and MS Dhoni for it, since that was a role assigned to him in the IPL a few seasons back.

It is easy to look at the scoreboard and say Venkatesh and the KKR pacers did well. Yes, they did, but thank the man who is skipper. If there is a contrast and comparison between Rahane and Pat Cummins, the KKR skipper is streets ahead.

As the lone overseas captain in IPL 2025, Cummins has been less than inspirational. His return after a long injury layoff shows rust in his own bowling. Not every batter can give him the 'belt treatment' but Venkatesh Iyer did. If you look at the Sunrisers top order, it's so classy. However, to lose three matches on the trot is unacceptable.

For those who have seen the Hyderbad franchise struggle in the past when it was called Deccan Chargers, SRH need to do something sensational to bounce back. The IPL format does allow a team to bounce back, but the current form and results from SRH is below par.

Come on, as runner-up in the last IPL, to be languishing at the bottom of the table now is unacceptable. It has left the sparse fan base disappointed, including their boss Kavya Maran.

Back to KKR, Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana were at the top of their game with the new ball. Vaibhav did well to get rid of Travis Head while Abhishek Sharma fell to Rana. What will be remembered as a classic is the catch which Rahane took to dismiss Ishan Kishan for two runs, off Arora.

And what does one say of Nitish Reddy, a big failure this season. Has hype and pressure caught up with Sunrisers Hyderabad? They need to shape up soon. Last bit, how does one not mention mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy taking three wickets to clean up SRH.