“Orange Army has saved the best for last”: Pat Cummins

Ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) final, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) sent a bold warning to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Shreyas Iyer, stating that the Orange Army has saved “the best for the last.”

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), two of the top teams of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), will face off in the title clash at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.

KKR finished the league stage at the top of the points table with nine wins, three losses, and two no results, securing 20 points. They earned a direct spot in the final by defeating SRH in Qualifier 1. SRH got a second shot at the title in Qualifier 2 against Rajasthan Royals (RR), where they capitalized by defeating the Men in Pink by 36 runs.

In a video shared by the official X handle of the IPL, both captains exchanged friendly notes before the game.

Shreyas Iyer sent a note to SRH captain Pat Cummins, praising the Australian star for his leadership and pointing out that KKR had given SRH a tough time this season, winning both their matches against them, including the Qualifier 1 clash. He humorously added that may the best team, i.e., his own, win.

“Dear Pat! Today, I thought it might be fun to drop you a little note. First off, let me just say you have done an amazing job leading the Orange Army this season. This season we have given you a tough time. Let me remind you, you faced the same opponent at a different venue. But today you will be against colours that will be familiar to you: purple and gold. Here’s to a thrilling final. May the best team win, and by best, I mean ours,” Iyer said.

Responding to him, Cummins acknowledged Shreyas’ exemplary leadership and “a lot of swag.”

“But I cannot help but think about our stellar win at this very ground (against RR in Qualifier 2). I hope the KKR boys know what to expect. Come Sunday, you might say you have given us a tough time this season, but let me assure you the Orange Army has saved the best for last,” Cummins said.

Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad

Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen (w), Abdul Samad, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Jaydev Unadkat, Shahbaz Ahmed, Umran Malik, Sanvir Singh, Glenn Phillips, Mayank Markande, Mayank Agarwal, Washington Sundar, Anmolpreet Singh, Upendra Yadav, Jhatavedh Subramanyan, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh

Kolkata Knight Riders Squad

Rahmanullah Gurbaz (w), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, Nitish Rana, Srikar Bharat, Sherfane Rutherford, Dushmantha Chameera, Chetan Sakariya, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sakib Hussain, Suyash Sharma, Allah Ghazanfar