An all-round performance from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), featuring fiery spells by Mitchell Starc and Andre Russell, and a half-century by Venkatesh Iyer, secured their third Indian Premier League (IPL) title and their first in 10 years as they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by eight wickets on Sunday at Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium.
Sunrisers, known for their fierce hitting and high run-rates, led by the opening pair of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, met their match. In a battle of two big buys, the Australian stars Cummins (20.5 crores for SRH) and Starc (24.75 crores for KKR), it was the latter who prevailed.
During the run-chase of 114 runs, the opening pair of Sunil Narine and Rahmanullah Gurbaz couldn’t build a long partnership. Narine was dismissed for just six runs off two balls, with SRH skipper Pat Cummins taking his wicket. Shahbaz Ahmed took a fine catch, leaving KKR at 11/1 in 1.2 overs.
Venkatesh Iyer joined Gurbaz and drove the run-chase forward. The left-handed Venkatesh started Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s third over with a four, six, and another six, scoring 20 runs in the over.
With a boundary off a delivery from Cummins, Gurbaz helped KKR reach the 50-run mark in 4.1 overs. The final over of the powerplay by T Natarajan also proved to be fruitful, with Iyer hitting three fours and a six over deep square leg, adding 20 more runs to KKR’s total.
At the end of the powerplay after six overs, KKR was 72/1, with Iyer (40*) and Gurbaz (21*) unbeaten. Kolkata continued their aggressive batting, with Iyer hitting a six over long-off to cross the 100-run mark in 8.4 overs. However, Gurbaz was dismissed leg-before-wicket by Shahbaz Ahmed for 39 off 32 balls, including five fours and two sixes, leaving KKR at 102/2 in 8.5 overs.
Skipper Shreyas Iyer was next up and started with a reverse sweep into the boundary. KKR completed the run-chase, making 114/2 in 10.3 overs, with Venkatesh (52* off 26 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes) and Shreyas (6* off three balls, with a four) unbeaten. Pat Cummins and Shahbaz Ahmed took a wicket each.
Earlier, KKR quicks made short work of SRH, reducing them to 113 in the IPL 2024 title clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Mitchell Starc led the charge with a figure of 2-14, while Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, and Varun Chakaravarthy supported well in the middle phase, with Russell finishing with three wickets for 19 runs in 2.3 overs.
Put to bat first, Starc’s opening over dimmed SRH openers’ hopes of forming a strong partnership. Starc, acquired by KKR for Rs 24.75 crores, delivered a top-notch performance, removing opener Abhishek Sharma for two in the first over.
Vaibhav Arora piled more misery on SRH, dismissing Travis Head for a duck. Starc’s inswingers further troubled SRH, as he removed Rahul Tripathi, who mistimed a shot to Ramandeep Singh at mid-wicket.
Aiden Markram and Nitish Reddy tried to stabilize SRH’s innings, taking them past 40/3 after six overs. Markram hit 17 off Vaibhav’s over, but Harshit Rana removed Reddy for 13 in the seventh over. Spin was introduced with Sunil Narine, who kept the run flow in check.
Andre Russell took over, dismissing Markram for 20 and Abdul Samad for four in consecutive overs. Harshit then dismissed Heinrich Klaasen for 16, further denting SRH’s hopes. Captain Pat Cummins tried to rotate the strike but failed to guide his team to a big total, as Russell took the last wicket, bundling out SRH for 113 in 18.3 overs.
