David Warner won the toss and asked KKR to bat first. Kane Williamson replaced Eoin Morgan while Knight Riders roped in Colin Munro and Kuldeep Yadav for Morne Morkel and Piyush Chawla.
Barinder Sran provided the first breakthrough by dismissing Robin Uthappa.
Deepak Hooda then struck twice in two overs to remove Colin Munro and Gautam Gambhir, denting KKR after a bright start.
Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan came together to rebuild KKR's essay.
Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa were off to a stroke-filled start, scoring 22 off the first two overs.
Yusuf Pathan and Manish Pandey added 87 runs off just 49 balls for the fifth wicket.
Yusuf Pathan scored an unbeaten 52 off 34 balls as KKR posted 171 for 6.
Kuldeep Yadav, playing in place of Piyush Chawla, picked up two crucial wickets.
Shikhar Dhawan led Sunrisers' chase with a quick-fire fifty
Sunil Narine's three-wicket haul ensure KKR beat SRH to qualify for playoffs.