After Kolkata Knight Riders` 80-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, skipper Ajinkya Rahane said that winning by a big margin was crucial.

"This game was really important for us. Winning by a big margin was crucial. Even we wanted to bowl on this wicket. When we lost two early wickets, we wanted to consolidate till 6 overs - play with intent but play cricketing shots. And then when we have wickets in hand, guys down the order can get as many runs as possible. Happy with the batting unit," said Rahane during the post-match presentation.

KKR`s IPL 2025 campaign came back on track after their defeats against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Mumbai Indians. In the match against SRH, vice-captain Venkatesh Iyer and Angkrish Raghuvanshi smashed half-centuries and later the three-wicket hauls from Vaibhav Arora and Varun Chakravarthy helped the side defeat Hyderabad at Eden Gardens.

Ajinkya Rahane also stated that the last two IPL 2025 matches and even the win against MI were not up to the mark, but the side has learnt from its mistakes.

"This is a great example for us as a batting unit. Rinku and Venkatesh - those guys can play brilliant shots. Ramandeep (Singh) was sitting in the dugout, Dre (Andre Russell) was sitting and Moeen was also ready. It was about playing normal till 15 overs and take it on. Initially, we thought 170-180 in the surface would be good. Slower balls were gripping. We had three quality spinners. Moeen, unfortunately, couldn`t bowl tonight. Sunny (Sunil Narine) and Varun bowled really well. Credit goes to Vaibhav and Harshit (Rana) as well," he concluded.

After winning the match against Hyderabad, Kolkata also became the first-ever team to register 20-plus victories against three different teams in the league`s history. They now hold 20 wins against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The side also has 21 wins against the Punjab Kings.

Kolkata will now take on Lucknow Super Giants in their next IPL 2025 encounter on April 8 at the Eden Gardens.