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After Russell’s fireworks lit up the Eden Gardens, taking the hosts to a commanding 208 for 7, Klaasen produced a stunning effort and single-handedly brought the Sunrisers back into the game.
However, collapsing under the pressure, Klaasen fell at the end and failed to get his team across the finish line.
With 13 needed in the last over, Harshit Rana (3/33) showed nerves of steel, giving away just 8 runs and bagging a couple of wickets to ensure a tight victory for his team.
Pat Cummins, on his IPL debut as captain, faced the last ball and needed four to tie the match, but Harshit bowled a dot ball that sparked wild celebrations.
As a step
South African Klaasen took IPL’s most expensive buy Mitchell Starc to the cleanliness, smashing him for three sixes, while Bengal cricketer Shahbaz Ahmed finished off the Australian left-arm quick with another six.
That run of 26 meant Starc, who joined the Knight Riders for a record Rs 24.75 crore, finished with a woeful figures of 4-0-53-0.
Needing 13 off the last over, KKR gambled on rookie pacer Rana as they were hit for seven runs off the first two balls.
But he dismissed first Shahabaz and then Klaassen in his penultimate delivery, which came through a magnificent backward catch by Suyash Sharma, to give the home team a fantastic victory.
Chasing the towering target on a beautiful batting platform at Eden Gardens, Hyderabad found themselves at 145/5, needing 61 runs off 19 balls before Klaasen came on.
Earlier, openers Mayank Agarwal and Abhishek Sharma, who scored identical 32, gave SRH a perfect start.
The duo made 60 runs in 33 balls before Rana dismissed Agarwal.
Before Rana came into action, KKR’s trump card Narine displayed his sorcery. The West Indies bowled from seventh to 13th and gave up just 19 runs in four overs.
He took just one wicket but stifled SRH’s progress in the middle overs.
However, KKR’s fielding was an eyesore. Varun Chakravarthy’s fitness was always a concern and he came to the fore when he dropped a dolly to deprive Narine of Rahul Tripathi’s wicket.
The former KKR batsman got another reprieve in the next over and this time impact player Suyash couldn’t hold a return.
It would have been a boundary, but umpire Yeshwant Barde stood in the path of the ball, leaving him grounded.
Earlier, Salt scored the third IPL fifty in just 38 balls before being dismissed by Mayank Markande (2/39).
The Englishman made 54 off 40 after Narine (2), Venkatesh Iyer (7), Shreyas Iyer (0) and Nitish Rana (9) fell cheaply with pacer T Natarajan (3/32) making early dents.
But KKR had the power of ‘Dre Russ’ in their ranks.
Russell hit Markande when he hit SRH deep into the stands – three sixes in five balls.
Markande briefly thought he had the last laugh when Aiden Markram took a blind at long-on, but replays showed he botched the forward diving catch, giving Russell a breather in the 20th.
The warning signs were on for SRH and the Jamaican went berserk in Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s penultimate game by hitting him for two fours and two sixes, making 26 runs.
Rinku Singh, at the other end, made a 15-ball 23 as the duo put together 81 runs off 33 balls and Kolkata scored 85 runs in the last five overs.
However, the credit should also go to Salt and Ramandeep Singh.
Salt held firm despite the early wickets and got useful support from debutant Ramandeep, who quickly ran out of the blocks in an entertaining 54-run partnership.
Ramandeep hit Cummins for a boundary and then hit a short one for six.
He also hit Markande, Marco Jansen and Shahbaz Ahmed for three more sixes in his 17-ball 35 before being dismissed by Cummins.
The partnership set the tone for Russell and Rinku’s final assault.
(With input from PTI)