Arora makes the right impact for Kolkata in rout of Hyderabad

Arora takes full advantage of Hyderabad's aggression and collected the wickets of Head, Ishan and Klaasen

Indian Premier League - IPL - Kolkata Knight Riders v Sunrisers Hyderabad - Eden Gardens, Kolkata, India - April 3, 2025 Kolkata Knight Riders' Vaibhav Arora celebrates taking the wicket of Sunrisers Hyderabad's Heinrich Klaasen, caught by Moeen Ali REUTERS/Abhijit Addya

Impact player Vaibhav Arora picked up three crucial wickets to help Kolkata Knight Riders to a massive 80-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League on Thursday.

Kolkata, who were keen to get back on track after Monday's eight-wicket defeat by Mumbai, posted 200 from their 20 overs before bringing on Arora as a substitute and letting him loose on the visiting batsmen.

Arora took full advantage of Hyderabad's aggression and collected the wickets of Travis Head, Ishan Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen at the expense of 29 runs from his four overs as the visitors folded for 120.

"A team that hits every ball also has the chance of going down early. And that's what we wanted to exploit," said Kolkata's Venkatesh Iyer, who scored 60 off 29 balls.

"We have Vaibhav Arora who bowls in the powerplay to pick up wickets and he did that."

Arora, 27, was named player of the match.

Hyderabad's total was the second-lowest of the season behind the 116 posted by Kolkata against Mumbai earlier in the week.

"All the wickets Vaibhav took were very important... you can never take it for granted when Klaasen is around," said spinner Varun Chakaravarthy, who also took three wickets.

Both Chakaravarthy (3-22) and Arora have six wickets for the season, three fewer than the league-leading Noor Ahmad of the Chennai Super Kings.