Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) all-rounder Nitish Kumar, who contributed a 24-ball 39 and two wickets in his team’s first win of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday (April 2, 2026), said his off-season work improved his bowling.

“I wanted to work on my bowling, but it’s just the injuries which I went through last year. Thankfully, I got a little bit of time before the season and I did pretty good in one week of training with a specific person. That really helped and (it) made sense whatever he said to me,” said Nitish, a medium pacer, without naming his guide.

Nitish said since the pitch was two-paced and the ball gripped for the spinners, SRH brought in Harsh Dubey early resulting in the dismissal of the dangerous Finn Allen.

After SRH lost some wickets quickly, Nitish formed an important 82-run partnership with Heinrich Klaasen and helped their side post 226 for eight and beat KKR by 65 runs. Nitish said he followed the experienced Klaasen’s advice during that partnership.

“Klaasen is such an experienced player, reads the situation well. He has been playing T20s successfully. Sometimes you just have to listen to a senior who has already been there in that situation…One side (of the ground) was big and one side was small and bowlers were trying to use that. We were just saying that bowlers were going to miss the lines and we were going to capitalise on the loose balls,” said Nitish.